The Ark
by Cossacks250
Summary: The Covenant controls Earth, the UNSC is scattered and almost completely annihilated and the Flood is preparing to spread outwards. Our only hope to save us and the galaxy is Eve. It's time to finish to the fight! Some OC's.
1. Prologue

**Date: April 22nd****, 2552**

**Location: 1,000 miles above Earth**

Space. It was the one thing man had been looking up at since the first Humans appeared some 2-3 million years ago. It was filled with untold beauty from the stars to looking down on the planet which the Humans had come from. Earth.

Ever since the Russian satellite _Sputnik _was launched into space in 1957, mankind had gradually become more attached to go to the millions of stars and known worlds that lay in their solar system. More and more breakthroughs came into reality after _Sputnik_, including the first human in space, the first animal and then, finally, the biggest breakthrough of them all came twelve years after _Sputnik_. The first Human to set foot on an extraterrestrial world. The moon.

Now, almost six hundred years after the moon landings, mankind had not only landed and explored many new worlds, they settled on them. Very quickly, small towns and spaceports became bustling cities. Billions of people moved from Earth to extraterrestrial planets to live out new lives. It was no doubt the largest mass migration ever in Human history. Within fifty years of the moon being colonized (2075), over fifty million people had settled on the moon and Mars.

However, the population of Earth was still growing at an alarming rate. By 2150, there were 26.5 billion people, the Human population having doubled from 2050 and yet it continued to grow. By 2250, just one hundred years later, the Human population was at 40 billion people on Earth, plus an extra seven hundred million living on Mars, the moon and on several space stations constructed above Earth. Io, which had been terra-formed earlier in the century, had to be colonized and shortly afterwards, Rhea and Carme followed. Slowly, the Human population on Earth began to dwindle from 45 billion to 38 billion as more people migrated to the newly colonized planets. However, they were quickly beginning to run out of extra living space for Humans to live on. Titan, Venus, Callisto, Enceladus, Tethys, Europa and Ganymede were the only planets left that were suitable for terra-forming.

Then, in September 2300, scout ships discovered the Niobe Aino system. A second sun with more planets orbiting around it, almost three times the amount of Earth's solar system. What was better, most of them were suitable for life. Almost immediately, transport ships, each carrying a few hundred thousand people, were sent to the Niobe Aino system. Within the first fifty years, Eucia, Kurar, Vorgra and Takra, the closest and largest Earth-like planet ever found, had been colonized. Billions of people quickly moved to the new system, many settling on Takra. Two hundred years later, many new planets such as Eucia II, Tura, Lupo and Reach had been discovered and colonized.

With many new planets Humans had to call home, It's science and technology had spread over many new discoveries. However, there was one thing that everyone was still asking. It was the biggest question of all in science and had been since the 1950's. Was mankind alone?

Ever since the Colonization Age, people were at least hoping there would be life on one of these new worlds. However, this hope died in vain. None of the worlds had any life on them, except for extraterrestrial plant life. Most people were expecting to find another civilization that was managing the plant life but there was nothing. By the 26th century, people were beginning to think was there was no life in the galaxy, or even in the entire universe.

Then, on March 3rd 2551, everything changed. The question of whether or not mankind was alone in the universe had been answered, but there had been another question that was joint to the main question of science: was the new civilization friendly… or hostile?

The answer was what everyone had feared. They were hostile and to make things worse, it was not just one civilization, it was seven all formed into a coalition known as the 'Covenant'. The coalition was made up of alien races mainly referred to as Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Brutes, Hunters, Drones and Prophets.

Within a year of encounter with the Covenant, the Humans found themselves at the mercy of their new enemies as every planet the Humans colonized in the Niobe Aino system had been destroyed using the Covenant's feared glassing tactic where the Covenant would fire high plasma energy beams down onto the surface of a planet, which would destroy the surface and render it uninhabitable.

By 2552, just over a year after the war began, all but one of the Niobe Aino planets had been destroyed. The last was Reach, the heart of the UNSC's Niobe Aino system. Reach was the most important planet in the Niobe Aino system at the time. Not only because it was the last planet in the second system before Earth's solar system, but because it was where the one special unit of super soldiers was stationed.

These super soldiers were either the best soldiers, medics, engineers, pilots, E.R and ship crew members. They all made up a special taskforce and their uniforms were a special bodysuit that had a temporary shield to withstand Covenant fire. They were to be sent on a dangerous mission that most certainly meant the very survival of the Human race. However, two days before the mission was to begin, the Covenant attacked and destroyed Reach, killing almost the entire taskforce. Only one member escaped on a UNSC battleship known as the _Axiom_. The UNSC knows very little of what happened afterwards but they were relieved to discover that the last taskforce member had survived. They still had the one tiny advantage over the Covenant in the war. Now, they needed it more than ever.

A week ago, the Covenant, led by one of their leaders known as Regret, inadvertently appeared above Earth. Although there was only a small fleet of their ships, most managed to break through to Earth and landed at four different places on the planet. The UNSC were successful in pressuring most of the Covenant's forces in Central America, with the help of their super soldier, and were even successful in driving away the prophet of Regret's ship that was above New Mombassa in Kenya. However, a UNSC ship, with the super soldier on board, were launched into slip space along with Regret's ship. However, the remains of Regret's fleet continued the attack and just days ago, another fleet of three hundred and fifty ships arrived and began attacking not only Earth but Mars, the Earth's moon, Phobos, Rhea and many other planets in the same system as Earth. The UNSC forces were suffering heavy losses in both troops and civilians. It was looking like the long awaited and feared fate of Earth had finally come.

However, a new Covenant ship had arrived above Earth two days ago. It was a large pyramid-like ship with three enormous legs, in a triangle shape, with an enormous spire sticking out of the top of the ship. The ship was over a thousand feet tall and was a chrome colour. Onboard this ship was the Covenant's last leader. The prophet of Truth.

Truth once had two brother leaders at his side. However, Regret had been killed by the super soldier and Mercy, the oldest of the three prophets, had been killed on High Charity, the Covenant holy city and home world of the Covenant, by an infection form of the most feared Flood. Truth, however, said that it was the Elites who had killed Mercy, hoping to increase more hate against the Elites by the other Covenant races and have them destroyed.

Truth's ship had been flying over Earth for two days, mainly checking that there was no UNSC defences above the planet. Almost all of them had been destroyed, along with much of the UNSC fleet. Only the orbital defence platforms _Cairo_, _Honolulu_ and _Everest_, both of the last two being in a _very_ bad way, remained.

**Onboard Truth's ship**

The bridge of Truth's ship was a large square shaped room with magenta coloured walls and ceiling. The floor was silver coloured. Along the front wall of the bridge was a set of control panels that pinpointed the locations of the previous landing zones made by Regret's fleet. Several Brutes were working on them. Along the right side wall was a large window that gave a clear view of Earth and several Covenant assault carriers and CCS battle cruisers. On the back wall was nothing except for a small door that led into a corridor. On the left wall of the bridge was another line of control panels with another set of Brutes on them.

In the middle of the bridge was a small gravity lift that led up to a large circular platform hovering about twenty feet above the floor. On the platform was a large flat pedestal that had a slow spinning virtual image of Earth hovering above it.

A long finger stretched out and pressed down on East Africa. The image changed from Earth to the east side of the African continent. A country lit up a violet colour. Kenya. The image zoomed in towards a large area that had a cloud of smoke above it. The image suddenly changed to an enormous desert expanse with a huge hole in the middle of the image. In the background were the smoking ruins of New Mombassa.

"Is the artefact almost fully uncovered?" a voice said as the finger moved away from the image.

The finger belonged to an alien dressed in robes and who was sitting in some kind of enormous hover chair. The alien had a large head with what looked like It's brain half-sticking out of the back. On It's head was a large gold crown. The alien had thin arms that stuck out from the robes that were obviously way to big for it. This alien was the last Covenant leader. His name: Truth.

"Yes, holy one," a large figure standing next to the hover chair said.

The figure was a large Brute covered in dark red/purple armour across It's chest, arms, legs and had some kind of helmet with two horn-like ends sticking out of the side of the top. It was a Brute captain. Since the civil war broke out on High Charity, the Brutes and their allies had managed to salvage a lot of amour and made it much stronger and even had some kind of shield built into some armour, these obviously being for only leader Brutes.

"The artefact has only a few more hours of digging left," the Brute continued. "Soon, it shall be fully uncovered,"

"Good," Truth said as he stroked his hanging pieces of skin on his chin. "Soon she was begin the Great Journey. Prepare the ship to descend to the surface,"

The Brute nodded and barked a command down at the Brutes working below. So Truth was looking for an artefact that had to be dug up. Whatever it was, it sounded big and did not sound good at all.

**Meanwhile, two corridors away from the bridge. **

The corridors of the ship were mainly long and had violet coloured walls and ceilings with silver coloured floors. Like most corridors, they had many doors along both sides. Several smaller corridors were joined onto them. This corridor went from one of the engine power cores and joined onto a longer corridor that led to the bridge.

A pair of Brutes, dressed in light blue armour that covered their chests, shoulders, legs and stomachs and had a helmet that covered most of their heads apart from the front of their faces, walked down the corridor towards the longer one at the end. Both were holding plasma rifles. "I cannot believe we are sparing most of the Human's cesspool planet!" one of them growled.

"I do not see why we don't just glass most of the planet except for the areas that we need." the other replied. "We glassed one of their wretched cities, so why not the rest of the planet?"

"At least we can begin the Great Journey," the first Brute said. "Soon, we shall be Gods,"

As the two passed a small corridor, to their right, leading to a large door, a small tap drew their attention. "What was that?" one of the Brutes asked.

"Probably one of the Grunts taking a nap," the other Brute answered.

The other Brute growled.

"If that is a Grunt sleeping, I am going to throw him into the engine's power core!" he said. "You go on, I'll deal with this,"

The other Brute nodded and walked on down the corridor. The first Brute walked into the smaller corridor. There was only one other door in the corridor and it was open. It lead into a small square shaped room with several weapons placed on the walls above a few crates. The Brute poked his head through the doorway into the room. There was no one in here. The Brute stepped into the room. Maybe the Grunt was sleeping behind one of the crates. The Brute walked towards a crate placed against the left wall.

Suddenly, his eyes turned inward and his breathing stopped. A small trickle of blood slid down his back onto the floor. An energy sword had been swung across his back. By the looks of it, the weapon had cut deep into the Brute. The creature stood rooted to the spot for a moment before falling forward onto the floor, dead.

Standing behind the Brute was a Human. It was a woman. She had shoulder length silver hair, blue eyes, soft cheeks and a small nose. She was wearing a white bodysuit with flat soled white boots that looked to be part of the suit. It was Eve.

She was the last member of the taskforce, and the last hope for Earth. Ever since the destruction of Reach, which led to the deaths of almost all of Eve's friends, she had been through what no one else in the UNSC had ever had to go through. She had been to two ring worlds, both known as Halo, the second being called Delta Halo, and had fought Covenant, sentinels and Flood. Just days ago, she had left High Charity as it was overrun by the Flood, who managed to get to the city using the _Amber Clad_, the ship commander Mary was in charge of until she and sergeant John were captured by the Covenant on Delta Halo's library. Eve then had to make the hard decision of leaving Auto, an intelligent A.I who had assisted her in the war, behind on High Charity. She had promised she would return for him. That promise _was _going to be kept. She was going to return for him, but right now she had to deal with Truth.

Eve deactivated the energy sword and ran out of the room into the long corridor. She ran on to the longer one at the end. When she reached it, she looked both ways. The left end of the corridor was another door, as was the right. However, Eve just managed to catch a glimpse of the large room as the door at the right end of the corridor closed. That was the bridge! Truth was definitely going to be in there.

Eve ran down the corridor towards the door that led to the bridge. When she reached it, the door beeped loudly and opened up, revealing the enormous square shaped room. Eve stepped in and gazed around the room. She could see the working Brutes and Earth outside the window. Then, her eyes rested on the platform. She could just about make out a hover chair. Truth!Anger filled Eve like water filling up a bottle. She gritted her teeth and clenched her energy sword tighter. Truth was going to pay for what he had done. He had betrayed the Elites, let Mercy be killed and now he was going to lead the attack on Earth. He had to be stopped.

Eve caught sight of the gravity lift built into the floor below the platform. She ran over to the gravity lift and stepped onto it. Her boots made a slight thud as they hit the gravity lift. This, unfortunately, drew the attention of one of the Brutes working on the side wall control panel. He turned and saw her.

"THE DEMON IS HERE!" the Brute roared.

Before any of the Brutes could react, Eve hovered up into the air towards the platform. She reached it in less than a second. As she touched down on the platform's surface, a few metres behind the two aliens she saw in front of her, Truth and the Brute shot round to see her.

"You!" Truth hissed. "You will regret stowing away on my ship, demon!"

"And you'll regret attacking Earth, Truth!" Eve replied.

Eve went to step forward but the Brute, who was dressed in steel blue armour that covered his chest, arms, legs and had a helmet that covered most of It's face apart from a small gap for the creature's eyes, standing next to Truth stepped in front of his holy leader and took out a long object metal object with a large sharp metal piece near the top of the right side of the object and a small rectangular block attached to the left side of the metal block. There were many lights and small bulges along both sides of the object.

"Prepare to feel the wrath of my gravity hammer!" the Brute growled.

Before Eve could blink, the Brute swung the weapon at her.

The air seemed to explode around her as Eve was thrown high into the air. She landed painfully on her arm. Eve groaned as she got up, only to dive out of the way as the Brute swung his gravity hammer at her again. Eve quickly threw her energy sword at the Brute, hitting him in the back, causing blood to flow. The Brute roared in pain and threw his gravity hammer onto the edge of the platform. The sharp metal piece got stuck into the side of the platform. He placed a hand on his back to stop the flow of blood, which did not work.

"YOU IMBECILE!" Truth yelled. "YOU CANNOT EVEN KILL A SIMPLE HUMAN!"

The Brute tried to turn to charge towards Eve but he stumbled backwards and fell over the edge of the platform. The Brute grabbed the gravity hammer but the weight of the creature, added to the weight of the rest of the weapon, was too much for the metal piece. The rest of the weapon snapped away from the metal piece. The Brute's roar filled the room, only to stop abruptly with a loud THUD.

Eve walked over to the edge of the platform and grabbed the metal piece and thrust it out of the platform. She pointed it at Truth and walked towards him.

"You won't get away with this demon!" Truth growled despite shrinking back against his seat as Eve approached him.

"Neither will you," Eve replied as she held the metal piece just inches from Truth's face.

Truth's eyes went wide. The weapon was literally only micrometres from his neck. All Eve had to do was drive it forward sharply and he would be dead. The Covenant would fall into disarray and the Great Journey would be gone.

Then, an idea popped into Truth's head. His eyes looked ahead past the metal piece and Eve towards the other end of the platform.

"Warriors! Kill the demon!" he shouted.

Eve shot her head round. There were no Brutes standing there. Truth had tricked her! Suddenly, the metal piece was yanked out of her hand. Her instincts reacted immediately. Eve swung her foot round and kicked Truth in the throat. Truth screamed but it sounded more like a high pitched cry. He grabbed his neck and gasped for breath. However, he leaned forward. His legs in the bottom of the seat caused the hover chair to shoot towards the other end of the platform. Eve tried to dive out of the way but the seat hit her and she fell on top of Truth, but before either of the two could react the seat fell over the edge of the platform. Eve and Truth screamed as the chair fell towards the bridge's floor.

CRASH! The seat hit the floor. Luckily, Eve jumped towards the back of the seat at the last moment, causing it to turn towards It's back. Even though the crash was still painful, at least she and Truth were alive.

Eve groaned as she struggled to stand up. Her vision went blurry for a few seconds before it kicked back in just in time to see two more Brutes charging towards her. Eve had only seconds to react. Her energy sword was gone! All she had to defend herself was, apart from her fists which she knew would be no match against the strength of the Brutes, was the metal piece. Eve grabbed it from the floor but it was then she realised that weapon had been snapped in two. It was now pretty much, useless…

Eve saw that the Brutes had stopped charging towards her. They were all holding weapons and had them raised up at her. None of them, however, were willing to fire. Why?

A small groan from behind drew her attention. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw Truth lifting himself up from the floor. That was why the Brutes were not firing. An idea formed in her head. Eve grabbed Truth and held the metal piece up to his neck.

"Get back!" she shouted, placing the metal piece on Truth's skin.

The Brutes halted where they were. Panicked looks spread across their faces. Their prophet was being held hostage! If they so much moved, Eve would kill him. They had to do something!

The hope for Truth came just moments after he had been taken hostage. The door to the bridge opened up and a Jackal armed with a beam rifle walked in. The creature scanned the room and quickly saw what was happening. It raised It's sniper rifle and fired a shot, and it was about to hit an unsuspecting target.

Eve screamed as the laser hit her. Even though her shield saved her from being killed, the impact was enough to make it feel like a knife had been thrust into her. Eve dropped the metal piece and let go of Truth. Big mistake.

One of the Brutes saw the opportunity and charged towards Eve. When he was just feet from her, he swung both of his fists at her. Eve was thrown through the air and landed painfully on her back about twenty feet away. She groaned as she got up.

"Hey demon," another Brute, dressed in steel blue armour, that was standing next to a control panel on the left wall of the room shouted. Eve looked over at the Brute. "Take one last look at your cesspool home world. It will be the last thing you ever see,"

The Brute slammed his hand down on the control panel. Eve glanced around the room, expecting something to come shooting out of the walls. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.

"Looks like you'll have to forcefully remove me," Eve said, stepping towards the Brutes.

What the…? She was suddenly stopped when her hand hit glass.

"What the hell?" Eve half-shouted.

She put her hands on the glass and felt around. She was in some kind of dome. Eve pushed her hands against it as if they would break through the barrier. This did not work. She even thought about smashing the glass but she did not have the metal piece with her and if she tried smashing the glass with her fists or feet it would only end up cutting them open.

Suddenly, the room, or at least the dome, jolted violently. A panicked look stretched across eve's face. She glanced around and saw she was… descending into the floor! Eve slammed herself against the side of the dome in an effort to break it open or at least get it out of the hole. It did not work and all she got was a flaring pain up and down her shoulder.

Within seconds, the dome was in a long tunnel. Eve looked up and saw the light of the bridge shine down through the entrance to the tunnel in the floor. Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, the hole closed. Eve was in pitch blackness. Then, the dome jolted again. It had stopped. Eve looked around but she barely see anything. Not even her hand in front of her face. What was going to happen now? Were they going to leave her here to starve to death or were they going to do something much more painful and worse?

Suddenly,…

"AAAAHHH!"

Eve was almost knocked out as she was thrown against the side of the dome. She groaned as she picked herself up from the dome's floor. Why had it done that? It became clear when she saw the different landscape outside the dome around her. It was filled with millions of tiny white lights. A large yellow ball was visible far away and it seemed to light up the area for thousands of miles on end. Far away to her right was a large ball with enormous landmasses and oceans covering It's surface. She was in space. The dome Eve had become trapped in was now actually some kind of thick glass ball, which was big enough for Eve to stand up in. It was floating through the depths of space hundreds of miles above Earth.

Eve looked back from the direction the ball was launched from and saw the enormous pyramid-like chrome ship hovering far away. Then, a light activated at the back of the main section of the ship. The ship began to move straight towards Earth. Already within a few seconds, Eve could see the heat waves going past the sides of the ship as Earth's gravity took hold of the ship. She had to follow the ship!

Then, the pod began to shake. At first it was unnoticeable, then it became more violent. Eve realised this after a few seconds and curled into a ball and began to silently pray that she would not be killed.

The ball began to shake violently as Earth's gravity took a firm hold on the ball. The heat waves quickly formed around the ship and shot out from behind it as if it were comet heading into Earth's atmosphere. Far ahead, the Covenant ship got closer to the home world of the Human race. It looked like all hell was going to break loose on Earth now that the Covenant's holy leader had arrived.


	2. Arrival

**Date: 22nd**** April, 2552, 01:35am **

**Location: Jungles of Kenya, 102 miles west of New Mombassa**

It was a clear night. The sky was littered with thousands of stars. Even in the almost complete pitch blackness under the trees, they seemed to light up the ground as if it were a full moon with no clouds. It was really a beautiful sight. Probably the second best thing to seeing the stars out on a clear night.

Then, something went shooting across the sky, blocking out the stars as if devouring them. It was a huge fireball. The Forerunner ship. Truth's ship. It had just entered Earth's atmosphere ten minutes ago and was heading to wherever Truth wanted them to go. It was about two miles above the surface of the Earth and closing fast.

As the fireball headed closer to the ground, the fireball seemed to get bigger. It looked as though the back of it was expanding, growing bigger every second. What was going on? Was the fireball breaking apart or was it multiplying into another?

It was a smaller object that was also a fireball. It had almost shot past the larger fireball but something must have suddenly changed It's course and sent it flying off in another direction. Closer and closer it was getting to the ground. At over a hundred miles an hour, anyone watching the object come in would most certainly believe that the object would be obliterated on impact. It was just one seventy metres from the ground. _Sixty… forty… twenty, ten…_

CRASH! The object smashed into the Earth and drove across the ground, creating a deep trench in the dirt until it finally came to rest against the trunk of a tree next to a small lake. As the fire around the object subsided, it was revealed to be a glass ball about nine feet high and seven in width. However, there was a huge hole on the front as if something had smashed through into it. In fact, it was the other way around. Something inside had smashed through the glass as the object crashed into the ground. That something was Eve.

She was lying against the trunk of another nearby tree. A small trickle of blood came down the side of her head, turning part of her hair a scarlet colour. She was not breathing, or moving.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

**Seven hours later**

The Sun rose up from behind the distant hills and mountains, lighting up the sky. A new day had dawned for Earth. For humanity, however, every new day meant something. It meant it was either one day longer for them to hold out, or one day closer to what could be the end of the Human race completely.

In the jungles of Kenya, the large glass ball still remained. A small pillar of smoke hung in the air. On the tree trunk in front of the glass ball, Eve still lay. The blood from the cut on her forehead had dried. The edges of her hair had turned a scarlet/purple colour. She had not moved since. It was pretty much obvious that she was dead.

"Jesus Christ!"

A group of figures walked out from the undergrowth towards the glass ball. They were all dressed in UNSC army uniforms. Marines. They had a battle rifle attached to the back of their uniforms and an M6C pistol attached to the belt around their waists.

One of the soldiers at the front of the group looked ahead and saw Eve lying against the tree trunk. It was John. He immediately ran forward past the glass ball over to Eve. He knelt down beside her. "Stay sharp!" John ordered as the rest of the squad, who exchanged nervous glances and mouthed gasps at the sight of Eve, joined him.

The marines took out their weapons and raised them, scanning the area like animals on alert. John leaned forward and put two fingers on Eve's neck.

"Is she okay?" a young soldiers asked as he looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, she's alright," John replied as he reached onto the back of his belt. "She's knocked out, but she's still lucky to be alive."

"I know," another marine said, turning to look at Eve. "A crash like that, I'm surprised she's still in one piece."

John nodded in agreement and placed a small cube shaped object on the ground next to Eve. He pressed a button on the side of the object. The top of the cube opened up, revealing a host of medical equipment. John took out a small vial with a peach coloured liquid in it and a small piece of cloth. He poured a drop onto the cloth and placed it on the cut on Eve's forehead. The dried blood around the cut quickly came off and the cut sealed and faded away until it was no longer visible.

"Corpsman, come over here and check the damage to her," John ordered.

A middle aged marine about 35 walked over to John and knelt down beside him. He took out a small cube object from his belt. The object quickly grew until it was about the size of his head. A small screen appeared on the front of the object. On it was a insight of Eve's bodysuit.

"Is the suit badly damaged?" John asked doubtfully.

"Her armour's locked up, sergeant." the corpsman replied. "Gel layer could have taken most of the impact. I don't know,"

John sighed sadly.

"It'll be alright, Sarge," the corpsman said. "She's alive after we thought she was dead,"

"But what are we going to do if her suit's screwed?" John asked, the marine.

The marine went silent. John was right. If they had to tell Eve that her bodysuit was no longer able to protect her, then it was going to be tough. She would not be able to fight as much, and the impact could have also caused internal damage. For all they knew, some of her bones might be broken or shattered completely, or she might be bleeding internally.

John leaned forward and squeezed Eve's shoulder. He waited for about a second. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened. What was going on?

"Her suit's probably disabled Auto's com," he said as he stood up. "Radio base and let her know we're bringing Eve with us. We're not leaving her here,"

"Yeah," a woman's voice said as a hand grabbed John's wrist, making him and the marines around him jump. "Your not,"

John looked down and gave a small sigh of relief.

"Your crazy, Eve!" he said as he helped her up. "Why do you always have to make people jump? One of these days your going to land on something as stubborn as you are. And I don't do bits and pieces!"

Eve rolled her eyes and rubbed the back of her head. John and the marines finding her had only just woken her up. She tried to remember what had happened to her over the past few days. She could remember being on Delta Halo… then in the clutches of… that Gravemind. Then being beamed to High Charity to catch Truth… then the Flood attacked and Eve boarded Truth's ship but had to leave Auto behind and-

Auto. The memory struck her like a stone. She remembered arguing with him on High Charity, then hugging him and promising him that she would return for hi-

"Where is he, Eve?" John asked. "Where's Auto?"

Eve stared at him. How could she tell him that she had to leave Auto behind?

"**You should never make a promise, if you know you can't keep it,"**

"He stayed behind," Eve said.

John went silent for a moment before nodding.

"Corporal," he said, looking up at another young marine. "Make it quick,"

The young marine nodded and walked over.

"Sorry, Eve," he said. "Your armour's still in partial lockdown, which I can say is better than being completely destroyed,"

Eve nodded in agreement and watched as the corporal took out a small portable computer screen the size of the palm of the soldier's hand and scanned Eve with it. A green light next to the screen lit up.

"Okay, armour's good," the corporal said. "Okay, I doubt I'll need to do this but It's best we make sure you haven't got any damage we can't see,"

The corporal pressed a button on the side of the portable computer screen. A green light lit up on the back of the computer screen. The soldier held it into the air a few inches above him.

"Look up here, Eve," he said.

Eve looked up at the light. At once, the light shut off as if it were an animal that did not want to be seen. The soldier moved it down to his chest and pressed the button on the side of the computer screen again. The green light came on again.

"Now down here," he said.

Eve did so, again making the green light turn off.

"Good," the corporal said. "Everything checks out, sergeant. She's in good condition,"

"That's good news, corporal," John replied.

A rustling from the undergrowth a few metres away attracted everyone's attention. The squad looked and saw another marine with a battle rifle in his hands walking towards them.

"Any Covenant on our tail?" John asked the soldier as he approached them.

"None, sir," the soldier replied. "We searched the path and didn't find any, for the moment,"

We? Who was the soldier talking about? It was only him, or had another marine trailed behind? No, that could not be the answer. If there was another marine that had trailed behind, then the other marine would have waited for him. So if it was not another marine, who else had just returned to the squad?

Eve saw John give a nod. Ahead of him, a few feet behind the marine that had just arrived back at the squad, an outline of a figure began to form. As it became clearer, Eve saw it was not a Human. It was an alien! The figure had become fully visible. It was an Elite! The Arbiter!

Before anyone could even blink, Eve grabbed John's pistol , charged past him and pushed the marine that had just arrived back at the squad aside and thrust the weapon into the opening between his mandibles.

"Eve! Wait!" John exclaimed.

Eve placed her finger on the trigger of the pistol and was just mere micrometers from firing the weapon. The Arbiter made no attempt to struggle or push the weapon away from him, even though Eve was about to blow his head off.

"The Arbiter's with us!" John said as he ran over to the two.

Eve shot her head in his direction.

"What the hell do you mean he's with us?" she shouted. "He's an Elite! He tried to kill you! He tried to kill me!"

"C'mon, now," John said calmly as he placed a hand on Eve's shoulder. "He's on our side now, you'll just have to put up with it. We've got enough trouble without you two trying to kill each other!"

Eve glared at John for a few seconds before she turned her hate and anger towards the Arbiter. She lowered the pistol, not taking her eyes off the creature who had and, in a way, still was her mortal enemy. The Arbiter clacked his mandibles together in some sort of shrug.

"Were it so easy," he said.

Eve's glare grew more dangerous. The Arbiter went to move past her but Eve pushed him back. The Arbiter breathed deeply probably a sigh and turned and walked away from Eve.

"We must go," he said. "The Brutes have our scent,"

The Arbiter walked past the remains of the glass ball into the undergrowth of the surrounding jungle. The marines followed.

"Time to kick ass," John muttered as he handed Eve his battle rifle, which she snatched from him.

John sighed and walked away after the rest of the squad.

Eve squeezed the battle rifle tightly, glaring at John and the rest of the squad as they disappeared into the undergrowth. She was really annoyed! Why the hell had John allowed the Arbiter, an Elite who had tried to kill him, her, Mary and Wally, join them? Whatever the reason, she did not like it at all. It was a good thing, for the Arbiter at least, that John had stopped her otherwise she would have blown that monster's brains right out of his skull.

After a few moments, Eve heaved a heavy sigh and followed them. She would have to find out more about this new alliance with the Arbiter later. Right now, she had to help them fight their way through the Covenant.


	3. Back home

Eve rejoined the squad a few metres up the path as they stopped in another clearing in the middle of the undergrowth.

"First squad, you're my scouts," John was saying. "Move out and cover the path ahead as quietly as you can,"

Two marines nodded and raised their battle rifles and ran around a large tree that seemed to be morphed with a large boulder that was well over fifteen feet tall and God knows how wide it was. Another boulder was just visible a few feet ahead of the tree and most likely formed some kind of passage or canyon with the other wide boulder. The two soldier ran behind the tree and disappeared.

"Move up and keep quiet," John whispered as he led the squad forward, his pistol raised.

The squad followed John around the tree, their weapons raised and fingers on the triggers. Eve raised her battle rifle and followed the squad. As she went around the tree, she saw that the rocks did form a passage but only a small one, about four metres long, and it turned right at the end.

Eve followed the squad down to the end of the passage and turned right into a small but wide valley which the two boulders became fifty foot high rock walls and almost touched each other from their tops. Trees and a variety of jungle plants covered the tops of the rock walls the bottom of the small valley was covered with water that was about ankle height. At the other end of the small valley was another passage that led back into the jungle.

The squad ran out of the narrow passageway into the valley. Suddenly Eve skidded to a halt.

"Stop! Stop!" she said.

The squad stopped in their tracks. The Arbiter turned off his active camouflage and became fully visible.

"What is it, Eve?" John asked.

Before Eve could answer, a loud whirring sound filled the air. It was instantly recognizable. Then, the light coming into the valley was blocked out all of a sudden. The squad looked up and saw the bottom of a Covenant phantom fly overhead. The Arbiter took out a large weapon with purple sides and a silver interior. A Covenant carbine. He was ready to fire on the phantom if it spotted them.

One of the marines gulped.

"The Covenant are probably looking for us," John said as the phantom disappeared behind the trees from where they had just come.

A loud faint howl filled the air. It was coming from up ahead. The squad darted their eyes in that direction.

"That sounded close," one of the marines said.

"Yeah, too close," another replied.

"We best split up when we get into the next part of the jungle," John told the squad. "If we stick together, we'll get spotted. Eve. You and the Arbiter head towards the river. Everyone else, your with me."

The Arbiter nodded and walked towards the opening at ahead of the squad. Eve, sighing in frustration, walked past John towards the passage out of the valley.

"And try not to kill each other, Eve," John added as Eve passed him.

"I don't think It's him or me you need to worry about," Eve replied, just loud enough for John to hear.

Eve joined the Arbiter as they walked out of the valley into the undergrowth. A small pathway led up a small hill to the left of the two and disappeared behind into a small cave. The main path continued on from the valley into the undergrowth up ahead. John and the marines ran out of the valley and ran up the pathway and disappeared into the cave.

The Arbiter went to step forward but was stopped. Standing in front of him was Eve.

"What are you doing?" the Arbiter asked her.

"Why are you here?" Eve asked him in a dangerous tone, raising her battle rifle and pressing it against the Arbiter's stomach. "Why are you helping us?"

"This alliance between me and your commander was formed out of necessity," the Arbiter told Eve. "We had to join forces to kill Tartarus and his Brutes. But I will be truthful with you, demon. I do still want to hurt you for what you have done to me. But right now your world and my race are both at the mercy of the Covenant. We will have to fight alongside each other, no matter how much you and I loathe each other."

Eve glared at the Elite and lowered her battle rifle.

"Alright," she said. "I will accept this alliance between you and John. But not me. As far as I'm concerned, you and I are still enemies after you tried to kill me, John, Mary and Wally on Delta Halo. And I will let you know this, Arbiter. If you even try to turn against anyone here. I will kill you!"

Eve turned and walked away up the path. The Arbiter sighed and followed.

After a few minutes, the two found themselves in an open area which was shaped like half a bowl and had a small river flowing out from a rock wall at the left side of the bowl. A fallen tree, as well as a few boulders, blocked part of the river and what was left of the water that could not squeeze through the gaps went around the side of the fallen tree through a large gap and joined up with the river.

Eve and the Arbiter stepped forward into the open area, their weapons at the ready in case the Brute that made the howl was nearby.

"Spread out, you whelps!" a deep voice shouted.

The two stopped in their tracks, frozen like ice.

"Find them!" the voice shouted again.

"They must be close," the Arbiter said.

Eve grabbed the side of the fallen tree and lifted herself up. In front of her was a great view of the jungle. About forty feet away was a cliff where the river flowed over. Scattered along the river were several large boulders and fallen logs. Coming out of the left side of the cliff was an enormous pathway that was covered with trees and plants. On the right side of the river, near the edge, of the cliff, was a small cylindrical shaped building that looked to be made of concrete. It looked like a small bunker with a rectangular shaped gap around the front of the building. A small doorway was on the left side of the building.

Then, eve saw a large figure standing in front of the building. It was a Brute. It had some kind of gold green armour on. It was much like that of the Brute that had been defending Truth when Eve was on his ship above Earth. A Brute shot was attached to the back of the armour. Standing in the shallow water of the river were three minor Grunts. All were armed with plasma pistols.

The Grunts turned and began to lumber off in different directions. The first walked over to the edge of the small cliff and looked out at the jungle. The second Grunt walked off towards the enormous pathway that came out of the left of the river. The last began walking up the river… right to where Eve and the Arbiter were.

Eve ducked down from sight as the Grunt approached the fallen tree.

"One of the Grunts is heading over here," she said to the Arbiter.

"I will deal with the creature," the Arbiter replied.

The Elite ran past Eve to the other end of the fallen tree. He ran around the gap and disappeared.

"Just make sure you kill it, not convince it to fight the Brutes," Eve added, muttering under her breath.

A second later, a loud thud, loud to Eve, erupted in the air. Eve grabbed hold of the fallen tree and lifted herself up. The Brute was looking away from her and so were the grunts so she was safe, for now. The thud had come from the Arbiter. He was hiding behind a rock about ten feet away. Behind him was the body of the Grunt.

Eve hoisted herself up onto the top of the fallen tree and jumped down. Her boots splashed loudly as they hit the water of the river. Eve quickly dived behind a nearby rock and went quiet in fear that the brute had heard her.

A few seconds went by. Nothing was going on. Maybe they had not heard her hit the water. Wait! No! They were probably creeping up on her or acting like they had not heard her and waiting for her to reveal herself so they could kill her. Either way, Eve could not wait here. John and the rest of the marines were most likely to be waiting for her and the Arbiter.

Eve breathed in and slowly stood up. To her amazement, the Brute, nor the Grunts had even turned to see her. The second Grunt was standing guard at the enormous path that led left. All were unaware that their two mortal enemies were behind them.

Eve raised her battle rifle and aimed at the Brute. She rested her finger on the trigger…

Suddenly, a carbine shot filled the air. Eve looked at the Arbiter and saw him stood at full height from behind his rock. His carbine was raised into the air. Eve looked and saw the body of a large green insect lying in the river. A Drone. Unfortunately, the Brute and the Grunts heard the shot and turned to see their enemies.

"THEY ARE HERE!" the Brute roared.

The Brute whipped out his Brute shot and fired a grenade at Eve, which she dodged by diving out of the way. The Grunts lumbered forward and fired on Eve. She ran forward and hid behind a small rock, narrowly avoiding another grenade from the Brute. Eve fired two bursts of ammo at the Grunts, killing them both. That was the Grunts take care of. Now they had to deal with the Brute.

The Arbiter fired another shot at the Brute, hitting him in the gap on his helmet. The Brute roared in pain and placed a hand on his head as purple blood began to seep through the gaps and tricked down the helmet. Eve quickly took the opportunity and fired a burst of ammo at the Brute. However, when the bullets hit the armour it lit up. Eve could not believe it! They had armour like the Elites! No wonder the UNSC were being pushed back!

The Brute growled and reached onto It's back. It took out a small dome shaped device with a small sphere that was about the size of the Brutes' hand. The Brute pressed down on the side of the device with his middle finger and threw it onto the floor. As soon as the device hit the ground, legs sprung out of the bottom of it and the dome went a gold colour. A large gold bubble-like haze expanded out from the object until it covered the Brute.

_What the hell was that? _Eve thought.

She fired a burst of ammo at the enormous haze. However, the bullets did no effect at all. They just fell to the ground like dead flies being. The Brute laughed at Eve's failed attempt to kill him.

"The shield is impenetrable, demon!" he shouted to her.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. It was impenetrable. There was no point wasting ammo on trying to disable the shield, but they could not leave the creature. They had to kill the Brut-

Wait a minute.

The Brute said it was impenetrable but that did not mean it was not impassable. Maybe a melee attack would kill it. Although she had her doubts, Eve could not wait her forever. More Covenant forces were probably on their way and if they got here then this was going to get out of hand very quickly.

Eve sprinted out from behind her cover towards the Brute's shield. The Brute saw her coming but made no attempt to fire on her. Probably because he was waiting for her. Eve got closer and closer to the shield. The only thing she had to worry about was the shield being impassable or dangerous on the outside.

Suddenly, Eve felt like she had gone through water only she had not. She was inside the shield.

Then, a terrible pain filled her. Eve fell to the ground, her head narrowly missing the dome shaped object. Eve groaned as she rubbed her side with one hand. A tall figure stood over her. The Brute. Eve's eyes travelled up the creature from It's heavily armoured and muscular knees to It's steel like torso and finally the head covered with armour. However, a small trail of purple blood had trickled down the front of the helmet. The Brute raised It's foot. Eve went wide-eyed. It was going to crush her!

Suddenly, the Brute was thrown sideways. Eve gasped. Who, or what, the hell did that? The answer came when the Arbiter stood in front of Eve and fired two shots from his carbine down at the Brute. The first shot caused the shield on the armour to light up. The second broke through the armour and drove into the Brute's chest. The Brute let out a groan before he went quiet and lay still.

The Arbiter turned to eve and held out a hand to help her up. Eve knocked it out of the way and stood up. She was still mad about the Arbiter joining them. Besides, she could have taken care of that Brute herself anyway! She did not need his help!

Suddenly, the dome object broke apart, causing the shield to disappear into thin air. An electronic sizzling noise followed for a few seconds before it died away.

"LOOK OUT!" the Arbiter yelled suddenly.

Eve and the Arbiter dived to the ground as a barrage of red blasts flew over their heads. Eve looked up and saw the enormous shape of a phantom hovering down towards them. Then, when the phantom was about fifty feet above then ground, it banked right and hovered down until the side of it was level with the river. Then, the side of the craft opened up, revealing the enormous room inside the craft. The view was suddenly blocked out by a swarm of figures that lumbered out of the craft. Grunts. The group numbered five. Then out came the squad leader. A Brute wearing the same kind of armour the Brute the Arbiter had just killed was wearing, only it was blue instead of a golden green colour.

The Brute roared and pointed at the Arbiter and Eve, who had got up from the ground when the Covenant troops starting coming out of the phantom. The creature took out a Brute shot and fired at the two. Eve and the Arbiter dived out of the way. The grenade exploded where they had been standing. The Arbiter stood up and fired a few shots from his carbine at the Brute. The shots hit him and broke through a section of the armour. The armour then, all of a sudden, began to spark violently. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle, hitting the Brute in the chest. They broke through the armour, most likely weakened by the Arbiter's carbine's shots, and embedded themselves inside the creature's chest. The Brute groaned and fell to the ground, dead.

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The Grunt that screamed turned and went to run towards the enormous path that led off to the left. However, his comrades stopped him, picked him up and threw him over the edge of the cliff. The Grunt screamed, only to stop abruptly after about two seconds.

Eve gasped. Not that the cliff was not as high as it looked but at what the Grunts had just done to one of their own comrades. She had never seen anything like that happen before. Usually when the leader of a squad of grunts would kill, they would run for their lives. The Brutes must have done something or the belief in this 'Great Journey' being so close to becoming a reality must have made them braver.

"Kill the demon!" one of the Grunts squeaked as they raised their plasma pistols but eve and the Arbiter were too quick for them.

A barrage of gunfire and blasts filled the air, followed by the screams of dying Grunts. Within just a second, all four Grunts lay dead on the ground.

"We must move on before more patrols arrive," the Arbiter said.

The Elite ran ahead towards the wide pathway; Eve followed. As the two passed the cliff, Eve saw that the river formed a small lake, that had another waterfall on another cliff, about twenty feet below. The body of the Grunt was visible just above the water. It must have broken It's neck when It's comrades threw it over the cliff.

Eve snapped back into reality and continued after the Arbiter. As they came closer to the trees, the two saw a large cave built into a rock wall about sixty feet ahead. Scattered around the trees were several boulders. The perfect places for any extra Covenant to spring an ambush. Eve and the Arbiter slowed to a walk and raised their weapons. They had to be ready to fend off any ambush by the Co-

"DIE DEMON!"Eve and the Arbiter dived behind some nearby rocks as a group of Covenant sprang out from behind a few trees and rocks ahead of the two. Eve quickly peeked her head out from behind her rock to see three Grunts, a Jackal with a shield and a Brute in dark blue armour that covered his chest, legs, arms and had a helmet, with two horns with flat tops protruding from the sides of the helmet, on.

"Kill them!" the Brute shouted to the other Covenant soldiers as he took out a plasma rifle.

The rest of the Covenant squad obeyed and fired on Eve and the Arbiter. The blasts hit the sides of the rocks and fizzed away as if they were eating them. The Arbiter blind fired a shot out from behind his rock. One of the Grunts yelled as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The Brute growled and took out a small dark blue ball shaped device with an orange lightning bolt going down the front of it. A plasma grenade! The Brute pressed down on the thunderbolt and threw it at the rock where the Arbiter was hiding.

BOOM! A light blue flash filled the air. The grenade had exploded. The worst thing about it was that it came from behind the Arbiter's rock. Eve went wide-eyed. They had just killed him. Even though she hated the Arbiter, she knew she needed his help.

"One down, one to go!" Eve heard the Brute say, causing the Grunts and the Jackal to cackle. "Let's kill the demon!"

The rest of the Covenant squad resumed firing on Eve's cover. A few plasma rifles came close to hitting her feet. She could not move behind the rock much more. It was not very big and the blasts were hitting both ends of the rock. Another blast hit the ground just an inch from her hand. Eve began to panic. The Covenant had both ends of the rock covered. If she tried moving out from behind it, she was dead.

"AAAHHHH!"

The barrage ceased immediately. A loud screech filled the air, followed by the screams of panicked Grunts What the hell was going on? Eve slowly stood up and saw the body of the Brute lying on the ground in a pool of It's own blood. The Jackal also lay dead nearby. The two Grunts were running towards the cave built into the rock wall up ahead. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired at them, killing them both.

"The traitors must pay for destroying the Covenant," the Arbiter said as Eve walked over to him. "We must hurry and link up with your squad."

The Arbiter ran towards the cave; Eve followed. When the two entered it, they saw the path turn right slightly before leading to a hole that led back outside about forty feet away. The two ran down the cave towards the end.

Suddenly, when the two were about ten feet from the other end of the cave, a swarm of large green insect-like creatures flew into the cave. Drones. There were four of them and they were all armed with plasma pistols. The Drones charged towards their two enemies. One of them managed to grab Eve round the ankles and lifted her high into the air, causing her to drop her to drop her battle rifle. Eve struggled to break free of the Drones' grip but it was hard. The Arbiter was having no luck either. He was wrestling one of the Drones for his carbine. Even though the Drones were weaker than the Elites, it was putting up a hard fight. Finally, after a few seconds, the Arbiter swung his fist at the Drone. The creature screeched loudly as it was thrown against the wall of the cave. The body slid down to the ground, leaving a trail of green blood, and lay still. The Arbiter then fired a shot up at the Drone holding Eve. Another screech filled the cave as the Drone, along with Eve fell to the ground.

"OW!" Eve shouted as she hit the ground, landing painfully on her arm.

The last two Drones fired on the Arbiter and Eve. The Arbiter's armour shield lit up. One blast hit Eve's suit, causing her shield to light up and the holographic meter to appear above her wrist. Eve grabbed her battle rifle, spun round and fired two bursts of ammo at the two remaining Drones. They screeched loudly as they fell to the ground, dead.

"Thanks for hurting me," Eve said to the Arbiter.

"It was not my fault," the Arbiter replied trying to defend himself.

Eve glared at the Elite before she turned and walked on towards the cave's exit back outside. The Arbiter sighed and followed.

When the two emerged from the cave, they found themselves on the edge of a small swamp where the surrounding rock walls formed a bowl. Covering most of the bowl was a small lake that had dark green water, probably because there was no sunlight to show It's actual colour, and jungle plant life spouting out of any gap. Scattered around the lake and on the ground were several trees that rose high out of the water and blocked almost blocked out the sun completely. A small hill on the left side of the lake led up to a small pathway that went along the edge of the rock wall at the back of the bowl about fifteen feet above the water. At the other end of the lake was another cave that looked as though it was dug open.

The Arbiter scanned the area for any Covenant. Eve went to step forward when the Arbiter pushed her behind a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?" Eve hissed at the Arbiter.

"There are Covenant here," the Arbiter replied, whispering.

Eve slowly peeked her head out from behind the tree and scanned the area. She could not see anything. She was starting to think the Arbiter was planning on doing something to her. Maybe exacting revenge on her for humiliating him on Delta Halo's library. Well, she was not going to fal- Wait! He was right! A figure walked out from behind one of the trees that was blocking view of part of the pathway. It was a Jackal. In his hands was a long silver weapon that had a purple light at the front end of the weapon. A beam rifle. Great! Another Jackal walked out from behind another tree further up the pathway. It was also carrying a beam rifle. At the moment, both were patrolling up and down the pathway, waiting for any UNSC that they knew were somewhere in the jungle.

Eve moved her head back behind the tree. She slowly turned it towards the Arbiter.

"You were right," she said quietly as if she were a child admitting something they had done wrong to their parents.

The Arbiter heaved a heavy sigh.

"I know I may have been an enemy to you in the past, Human," he said to Eve. "But I will promise to help you and your race. I will admit I was also, like you, not happy with this alliance but Your sergeant and I both shared an enemy. We had to stop Tartarus and then the Forerunners we did. If we had not, then the prophets would have already won."

The Arbiter was right. Even though they were enemies, right now the Humans and the Elites, or most likely only the Arbiter, had to band together to fight the Prophets. If they only continued fighting each other then, like the Arbiter said, the prophets will have already won. They were _not_ going to let that happen-

"DIE!"

The Arbiter was suddenly knocked to the ground from behind. Eve gasped and almost stumbled backwards. She saw a large figure standing over the Arbiter. It was a Brute. This one, however, had teal-green armour on It's chest, knees and had a teal-green helmet on. From the shoulders to the elbows and the torso to the knees were dark blue almost skin-tight pieces of armour. The Brute had a strange weapon in his hands. It was shaped partly like an M6C pistol but had four sharp points sticking out of the front end of the weapon, two above a glowing orange silo and two below. Two large curved metal spikes stuck out of the bottom of the weapon. This weapon was new in use against the UNSC. It was called the Type-25 Carbine. The UNSC soldiers called it the Spiker.

The Brute growled as he saw Eve.

"Your pathetic race will soon be destroyed, demon!" it said, raising It's weapon,. "Prepare to see the damage of my spiker!"

The Brute placed It's finger on the trigger of the weapon. All it had to was press down. The sight of whatever would be coming out of the weapon was the last thing Eve was going to see.

"AAAHHH!"

Suddenly, just as the Brute was about to press down on the spiker's trigger, the Arbiter, who must have regained consciousness, swung his legs into the Brute's. The Brute roared as it suddenly fell to the ground. However, It's finger inadvertently pressed down on the spiker's trigger, causing hundreds of orange glowing objects to come shooting out of the weapon and flew off in every direction. Several leaves and branches fell to the ground as the objects cut them to pieces like scissors cutting through paper. Eve dived to the ground as a few zoomed over head, narrowly missing it by inches. When she looked up, she saw that one of the spikes had got stuck in the trunk of the tree. It was a spike and it was only about an inch long, but if one of those embedded themselves into you, then you were in for a world of pain.

The Arbiter stood up and brought his foot down on the head of the Brute. A loud crack filled the air. Eve winced. That was horrible watching the Arbiter break the Brute's neck.

"The prophets are liars!" the Arbiter growled to the Brute corpse. "But you are the fools who do their bidding!"

So he still believed in the Covenant, in a way, only he no longer believed in activating the Halo rings or destroying the Human race. The Arbiter knelt down and picked up his carbine and turned to face Eve.

"We must continue on," he said. "The Brutes will have alerted more of their patrols to our presence,"

"What about the Jackals?" Eve asked.

The Arbiter did not answer. Instead, he pressed his back against the tree trunk and slowly peeked his head out from behind his cover. Suddenly, he jerked his head back as two purple lasers shot past the tree, one of them scraping it and taking off a huge chunk of bark, and slammed into the ground. The Arbiter growled.

"They know we are here!" he said. "It will be difficult getting past them,"

"Not really," Eve piped up, causing the Arbiter to turn his head to look at her. "I have an idea. When I say now, I'm going to run towards the pathway. The Jackals will have to fire on me. Then use your carbine to kill them,"

"It is dangerous, Human," the Arbiter warned Eve. "You do realise that even your suit cannot withstand the lasers of a beam rifle."

"It is better than staying here waiting for more Brutes to come kill us," Eve replied.

The Arbiter nodded slightly in agreement. It was better then waiting here for anymore Brutes to show up but Eve could get killed. The Arbiter knew John would not be happy with him if he had to tell him that mankind's only hope was dead.

Eve turned away from looking at the Arbiter. 

_He reminds me of Auto. _she thought.

The Arbiter's words were stuck in her mind. They reminded her of Auto. He would always tell Eve of the dangers of a suicidal idea. Just like when they were on the first Halo, it was the first time he told her she was suicidal. Eve missed him. She had promised to go back to High Charity for him, but he was right. You should never make a promise… if you knew you could not keep it. She could not keep hers, at least, it looked that way because of the Covenant on Earth.

Eve snapped back into reality. Behind her, the Arbiter checked his carbine's ammo. It was full. Now they just had to hope Eve was not hit by the lasers and the Arbiter could hit them. Eve stepped closer to the edge of the tree trunk. She took a deep breath. She felt as if she were the Jackals watching the tree, waiting for one of their two enemies to come out from behind it so they could kill them.

Eve breathed in and ran.

No sooner than a microsecond passed before two lasers flew at Eve. They missed her head by an inch and hit the ground. Eve ran faster towards the pathway, ducking slightly to avoid another laser that hit a nearby tree. Suddenly, her feet made a loud splash. Eve looked down and saw that she was in the lake. Oh no! It was not that she was in the water that was bad. It was…

Eve almost fell forwards as one of her boots tripped on a large rock on the lakebed. The Jackals fired at her again. Thankfully, both lasers missed and hit the water, creating to loud splashes. Although they had missed again, they would get her eventually.

_C'mon, Arbiter! _Eve thought angrily. _Kill them!_

As if on cue to Eve's thought, one of the Jackals suddenly screeched loudly as it was hit by a green shot. It fell backwards onto the pathway, dead. A second later, the other Jackal was hit and fell forward over the edge of the pathway and landed with a loud splash into the lake, dead.

Eve stopped in the middle of the lake and quickly caught her breath. That was lucky. Although it was not the first time she had almost been killed by the Covenant, that was probably the closest she had ever come to death. The Arbiter ran out from behind his tree towards the hill that led up onto the pathway; Eve followed. The two ran up the hill and across the pathway towards the cave at the end. However, when they were just ten feet from the cave…

"FOR THE GREAT JOURNEY!"

"LOOK OUT!" Eve screamed.

The next thing the two knew, a Grunt carrying _two lit _plasma grenades came charging out of the cave. The Arbiter and Eve raised their weapons and fired at the Grunt. The creature screamed loudly as it was thrown back several feet. BOOM! Both of the grenades exploded, lighting up the swamp and throwing dust and rocks everywhere. When the dust settled, Eve stepped towards the Grunt and stared down at it as if hoping it would come back to life. "I have never seen a Grunt do that before," she whispered.

"Their new-found courage is but fear," the Arbiter said as he walked over to Eve. "The Brutes have most likely threatened to kill all the Grunts if they do not serve the prophets,"

Eve was about to reply when a loud whirring sound filled the air. Oh no! Most whirring sounds in this area were definitely going to be Covenant phantoms. Eve scanned the sky in search of the enemy ship. After a few seconds, her eyes rested on a large moving shape she could just make out above the trees, but it was not a phantom.

"_This is pelican Echo 51. We are calling from the Mombassa river ferry building. Anyone receiving, over?" _a voice said from Eve's ear radio.

It was a pelican.

_"Roger, this is sergeant John," _came John's voice. _"We're approaching your location now. Be advised, Eve and the Arbiter are headed this way as well," _

"They must be close," Eve said. "We better hurry,"

Eve ran into the cave; the Arbiter followed. About fifteen ahead was another cave opening that led back outside. The two ran down the cave towards the end. When they emerged, they found themselves on the left bank of a wide flowing river about forty feet across. On the other side, it was very rocky and covered with trees and jungle plants. Further down the river, on the left bank, was an enormous cube shaped building that had a small pathway going along the side of it. The pathway carried on to the end of the building, so it was just above the water, before turning and heading down the front of the building. Next to the pathway, as it went down the front of the building, were several large rocks that seemed to block the river. Next to the building was the remains of a boat that was half-submerged by the water. Along the left bank of the river were several small and wide cylindrical shaped bunker-like buildings. Hovering a few feet from them were two large shapes. Pelicans!

Eve and the Arbiter ran from the cave towards the pelican. A marine on the nearest pelican saw them coming.

"Hey sergeant!" he shouted into the pelican_. _"Eve and the Arbiter are here!"

Another marine walked to the end of the pelican. It was John.

"Glad you guys could join us," he said as the two reached the pelican. "Hop on, we're heading back to base,"

"Sir!" a voice shouted from the cog pit of the pelican. "We've picked up something on our radar,"

"What is it?" John asked.

"_Banshees!" _the female pilot of the other pelican shouted. _"Fast and low!"_

"Break off, _now_!" the pilot of John's pelican ordered.

Eve and the Arbiter looked down the river and saw two large shapes flying up the river. They were banshees. About two of them and they looked like they were… going to do a strafing run!

When the banshees were about fifty feet from the nearest pelican, one of them fired an ion blast at the pelicans. It missed John's but hit the other pelican. The craft immediately began to spin around in the air. An explosion erupted on the engines. Fire raged on the craft. 

_"I'm hit! NOOOOO!" _the female pilot screamed.

The female pilot's pelican spun round wildly in the air. Suddenly, it crashed into a large rock on the other side of the river and fell into the water, where it sank and disappeared from sight.

Another explosion erupted on the pelicans, only this time it was on John's. Eve and the Arbiter were thrown to the ground. John was thrown backwards as the pelican began to spin around erratically in the air. Eve got up and watched helplessly as fire raged on the pelican. The two banshees banked right and disappeared behind the trees and rocks on the other side of the river.

"_We've lost the thrusters," _came the pilot's voice.

"_Can you get a hold of her?" _came John's voice, shouting.

"_Negative sergeant!" _came the pilot's voice again. _"We're going down! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"_

BOOM! The pelican crashed onto the top of one of the boulders, but it did not stop there. The pelican was forced back into the air again, where it hit a tree and then another rock wall, that was almost completely concealed by the trees, and disappeared on the other sight of it.

"C'mon!" Eve exclaimed to the Arbiter. "We have to help them!"

Eve ran down the river bank towards the cube shaped building at the end; the Arbiter followed. However, when the two reached the building, a barrage of spikes flew in front of them and hit a nearby rock. They came from the pathway Eve looked down towards the river and saw two large figures charge around the corner after a third large figure. Brutes! They all had teal green armour on their chests, knees and had a small teal green helmet covering the top of their heads. Behind them was a squad of eight smaller figures. Grunts.

The first Brute fired another barrage of spikes at Eve and the Arbiter. The two dived to the ground, the Arbiter narrowly missing one that skimmed over his head. One of the Grunts shouted something and lumbered forward. Eve, however, saw it coming. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The Grunt yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead.

One of the Brutes growled and took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw it towards the two. Eve saw the deadly device coming towards them and shot up from the ground and held her battle rifle as if she were holding a baseball bat. When the grenade was four feet away, Eve swung her weapon at it. The grenade was hit and thrown back into the air, heading straight for the Brutes and Grunts.

"RUN FOR YOU LIVES!" one of the Grunts screamed as the grenade came towards the squad.

BOOM! The screams of Grunts and Brutes filled the air as the grenade exploded. Five of the Grunts flew through the air and landed with a splash in the river. The last three screamed and ran down the front of the building waving their arms in terror. One of the Brutes had been thrown against the wall of the building, which followed with a loud crack. One of the two remaining Brutes was roaring in pain and had a hand on the side of his chest. Eve and the Arbiter could just see purple blood beginning to seep through the gaps between his fingers. The last Brute was trying to keep his footing. His head was spinning slightly. The grenade must have made him dizzy.

"Quickly. Let us kill them!" the Arbiter, who had stood up from the ground, said.

The Arbiter ran onto the pathway; Eve followed. When the Arbiter was about half-way down the pathway, he raised his carbine and fired a shot at the injured Brute. It hit the creature in the chest. The Brute roared with pain and stumbled backwards into the other brute. Both fell backwards over the edge of the pathway into the river below and lay still as they floated on the surface of the water. The Arbiter ran to the end of the pathway and watched as the Brutes flowed towards the rocks. After about ten feet, they fell down and disappeared from sight. Most likely a small waterfall.

Eve ran past the Arbiter down the pathway that ran along the front of the building. Ahead of her was an enormous dug out area between two rock walls. The area was covered with trees that stood over twenty metres tall with thick branches big enough to flatten a warthog completely. Paths that went along both sides of the rock walls. Some were only inches from the ground whereas others were about twenty to thirty feet above the ground. Also along both rock walls were several flat surfaces. It was quite dark in this area as the trees blocked out most of the sunlight.

Eve raised her weapon and walked down the pathway towards the dark area. A rock pathway was joined onto the building's pathway. It went along the left rock wall for about thirty feet until it stopped above a raised bit of ground which had a rock in front of it. Eve walked onto the rock pathway; the Arbiter followed, his weapon also raised. The two were aware this was the perfect place for Covenant to hide and ambush them so they had to be extra vigila-

"AHHH!"

Eve jumped about a foot in the air as her foot hit something. It was the body of a Grunt. Two other dead Grunts were lying dead nearby. They had burn marks on their armour on their chests. The question was; who, or what, had killed them?

"Stay sharp," Eve whispered to the Arbiter. "I think there's Covenant here,"

The two walked down the rock pathway, scanning the area for whatever killed the Grunts. Whatever had killed the Grunts, there had to be more than one of them. It was probably Jackals using beam rifles. Yes that was probably what killed the Grunts. All they had to do was find them or sneak past them.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve…" _came John's voice. Eve's eyes lit up. He was still alive! _"If you can hear us-(static)-the pelican's down about half a klick-(static)-from your position. Please hurry,"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Don't worry, John," she said. "we're on our way. Just hang in there,"

Eve lowered her hand.

"C'mon, we have to hurry," she said to the Arbiter.

Eve went to walk forward when…

"GET DOWN!"

The Arbiter pushed Eve to the ground and dived down next to her.

"What did you do that for?" Eve half-shouted at the Elite.

The Arbiter replied by pointing up at a nearby tree. Eve looked where he was pointing but saw nothing. What the hell was pointing at? There was nothing there-Wait a minute.

Eve's eyes rested on a long silver object on one of the branches of the tree. It was… moving? What the hell lived in the jungle that was silver and moved? Then, as the object moved through a ray of light that had managed to penetrate the tree tops, Eve saw a figure holding the silver object. Suddenly, the figure stopped. No sooner than a second passed before a purple light appeared on the silver object. Eve went wide eyed.

"RUN!" she screamed.

At that point, the jungle seemed to explode all around them. Eve and the Arbiter ran down the rock pathway as a barrage of purple lasers flew at them from all directions. They dropped down onto the raised bit of ground. Another purple laser shot over their heads and hit the rock wall. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot onto the branch of where they spotted the first Jackal. A loud screech filled the air and a figure dropped from the branch to the ground below. That was one dead, but God knows how many more of them were waiting.

Eve slowly stood up from the ground and ran over to the trunk of a nearby tree. The Arbiter hid behind the rock in front of the raised bit of ground. As Eve reached the tree, another purple laser shot out of the trees from somewhere up ahead. Eve dived behind the tree trunk and pressed her back against it. That was close. At least she was behind cover but now they had to find a way of getting that sniper.

"Can you see the Jackal?" the Arbiter whispered to her, keeping his voice low so the Jackal would not hear him.

Eve shook her head.

"We need to draw his fire," she whispered back.

The Arbiter growled and looked towards the branches from behind the rock as if he could see through them. They had to kill that Jackal so they could get to John. If they did not, then by the time they got to him he could be captured… or worse.

Eve was feeling the same way. They had to do something. Eve pounded the tree trunk in anger. They were wasting time standing here trying to kill the Jac-CLANK! What the?Eve looked behind her and saw a long thin silver weapon with a large mouth-like opening at the back of it and some kind of silver circle about half-way down the weapon. It was the Jackal's beam rifle!

"Yes!" Eve whispered as her eyes lit up.

Eve grabbed the beam rifle. Now she could take out the Jackal and they could continue on towards John.

Eve stepped towards the edge of the tree trunk. She was no more than an inch from exposing herself, and most likely getting killed. The Arbiter looked back towards her and saw the beam rifle in her hands.

"How did you get that from the tree?" he asked her.

"It fell," Eve replied. "Anyway, I need you to draw that Jackal's fire so I can kill him,"

The Arbiter went to reply but he stopped, then nodded. There was no point in trying to protest in making himself bait. Eve had done so in order for him to kill another Jackal earlier on, now it was his turn. The Arbiter moved along the rock until he was almost at the end of his cover. He breathed in and ran.

Another purple laser lit up the jungle as it flew at the Arbiter. It only just missed his shoulder. The Arbiter ran towards the trees where the Jackal was supposedly hiding, but the creature had exposed himself so now Eve had to kill it before it got the Arbiter.

Suddenly, another purple laser flew into the air. This time, however, it was not heading for the Arbiter. It was heading for the trees. Eve had fired a shot but it was it going to hit the Jackal?

As soon as the purple laser tore into the leaves of the trees up ahead, a loud screech filled the air. The Arbiter skidded to a halt and watched as the body of a creature fell down from the branches onto the ground a few metres in front of him.

Eve ran over to the Arbiter.

"You alright?" she asked him.

Suddenly, the Arbiter's carbine rose and fired another shot into the trees near the area's turning about thirty feet away. Something was hit and fell out of the trees to the ground below.

"Let us hope that will be the last of them," he said as he lowered his carbine. "We must hurry and get to your sergeant,"

The Arbiter ran ahead towards the turning; Eve followed. When they reached it, they saw that the two rocks walls that formed the area almost came together but left a ten foot gap between them forming a small passageway. The passageway led to an area where the sunlight had managed to claim. The Arbiter and Eve ran over to the passageway. Eve ran down the narrow gap with the Arbiter right behind her. When they emerged from the passageway into the area, which was about twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide and was a half cylinder shape with another opening, that was wider, the two skidded to a halt. The reason:

About ten feet ahead of them was a Brute with dark blue armour on It's chest, arms and legs. It had a dark blue helmet on with two horns with flat tops sticking out of the sides of the helmet. The Brute was holding something out in front of him. It was struggling like mad. It was a marine!

"You are finished, Human!" the Brute growled. "You will join your dead brethren!"

"You think I'm scared of you, bear face?" the marine replied as the Brute clutched down harder on his chest.

The Brute growled and lifted the marine higher off the ground. By the looks of it, he was going to kill him by throwing the marine as hard as he could into the ground. Someone had to do something!Eve charged forward and swung her battle rifle at the Brute's back. The Brute roared in pain and released the marine, who fell to the ground. The Brute placed a hand on his back as he fell onto his knees. The marine got up from the ground, ran over to a nearby plant and picked up his weapon. An MA5C assault rifle. The marine fired a few shots at the Brute. They easily tore through the Brute's skin and the creature slumped forward onto the ground, dead.

"You alright?" Eve asked the marine.

"Yeah," the marine replied as he ran over to her. "Covenant phantom flew over earlier, killed my men. The Brutes got rid of the bodies. I managed to hide in here but when I heard the pelican crash, I went to help and they found me,"

"Is the pelican nearby?" the Arbiter asked the marine.

"Yeah. It's just at the other end of the pathway," the marine answered, pointing at the passageway. "Follow me, I'll take you to the crash site,"

The marine ran towards the opening; Eve and the Arbiter followed. The three ran into the pathway and turned left. They ran down the pathway which was covered with rocks and a few logs. At the end of the pathway was another opening. The three emerged onto the top of a small cliff with about a ten foot drop to the ground. Ahead of them was an enormous open area that was shaped like a bowl with rocks and a few trees scattered everywhere. Two large raised bits of ground, about fifteen feet high, were near the entrance into the open area. They were spaced about ten feet from each other, forming a narrow opening into the open area. A small metallic bridge had been constructed over the gap. The back of the right hill was flat, creating a wide pathway onto the hill. On the top of the left hill, which was alongside a rock wall that formed the open area, were a few rocks. At the end of the left hill was a cave that led into the left rock wall of the area.

"There it is," the marine said, pointing to the back of the open area.

Eve and the Arbiter looked to where the marine was pointing. There, at the back of the open area, was the remains of an enormous craft. The pelican. The wings had been bent, one had been torn off the craft completely. The cog pit windows had been smashed and the cog pit itself looked as though it had been placed in a car crusher. The resting area's floors had massive holes in them and part of the left wall had been crushed.

"Come on, you dumb apes!" a voice shouted.

The three instantly recognized the voice. It was John's. Suddenly, three marines came running across the bridge from the right side. One of them was John. He was holding a battle rifle. The other two marines were armed with assault rifles.

"You want breakfast, you gotta catch it!" John shouted as he fired a burst of ammo at the right hill, which was blocked out by the right rock wall that formed the bowl.

A loud roar erupted from behind the rock wall. Then, a large figure wearing teal green armour came charging out towards the bridge. A Brute. He was holding a spiker, which he raised and fired at the marines. Luckily, the marines dived to the bridge floor, narrowly missing the spikes as they flew over them and hit the rock wall behind them.

"Frag 'em!" John ordered.

The two marines threw a few spherical shaped devices at the Brute. BOOM! The objects exploded. They were fragmentation grenades. The Brute roared in pain and fell off the side of the hill to the ground, dead.

"John!" Eve shouted, drawing the three marines' attention.

"Eve!" John shouted back, waving a hand at her.

Suddenly, three light green blasts flew at them. One of them narrowly missed one of the marines' foot. John ran across the bridge onto the left hill; the two marines followed. Chasing after them were three Grunts armed with plasma pistols.

"Eve!" John shouted. "Get over quickly! We'll try and hold them off in the cave!"

A few seconds later, John and the marines ran into the cave and disappeared from sight. The three Grunts ran in after them.

"C'mon, we have to help them!" Eve exclaimed.

Eve jumped down from the cliff onto the ground and ran down the pathway into the open area. The Arbiter and the marine followed. Eve ran under the bridge. Suddenly, a barrage of blasts flew at her. Eve dived behind a nearby rock and looked up. Two Jackals with shields, were lined up along the side of the left hill and were firing down at her.

The Arbiter and the marine ran underneath the bridge and dived behind the rock with Eve. Another set of blasts flew at them, narrowly missing their heads and hitting the bottom of the right hill behind them.

"We must get past them," the Arbiter said as he sat up.

Eve nodded in agreement. The problem was; how? Even though there were only two Jackals, if they tried to get past the Jackals, they were dead. There had to be something to destroy their shields.

The beam rifle.

Eve looked down at the weapon. Even though it was a sniper rifle, it had the power to break through the armour of a Brute so surely it could easily break through the shield of a Jackal. It was worth the try.

"Fire on them and keep them pinned down," Eve whispered to the Arbiter and the marine.

The two nodded and quickly stood up and fired a barrage of bullets and carbine shots at the Jackals, who brought up their shields. One of the carbine shots almost broke through the shields of one of the Jackals but the creature stepped back a pace, making him a harder target to be hit.

After a few seconds of keeping the Jackals pinned behind their shields. Eve stood up, raised her beam rifle and fired a shot at the Jackal that was standing on the side of the hill. The Jackal screeched loudly as the laser easily broke through the shield and drove deep into the Jackal's chest. The creature fell to the ground, dead. That was one down, now eve had to kill the other Jackal. Wait a minute. Where was it?

A large shape to the right moved but did not escape Eve's eyes. She looked and saw that the second Jackal was running across the bridge with It's shield placed over the side of It's head as if it would protect it. However, it left the side of It's body completely exposed. The marine next to Eve raised his assault rifle and fired a few rounds at the creature. They hit their target, causing it to screech loudly. The Jackal fell over the side of the bridge onto the ground.

"Good work," Eve said as she looked over towards the crashed pelican. "We better check if there's any survivors,"

Eve ran over towards the downed craft. The Arbiter and the marine followed. When they reached it, Eve ran into the resting area. Two marines were laying dead on the floor. One of them had his head at an awkward angle. Looking away from the horrible sight, Eve walked into the cog pit, or what was left of it. The pilot was lying dead with his head against the control panel. The radio of the craft was still working.

_"Echo Five-One, this is Crow's Nest. Echo Five-One, please respond! (pause) Hocus, Five-One is down. Divert for emergency evac, over."_

Eve grabbed the radio and held it up to her lips.

"This is Eve, over," she said.

"_Eve?" _the voice from the radio gasped. _"Your alive! We… we thought you were dead!" _

"No, the Covenant still haven't got me yet," she replied. "Crow's Nest, I'm in the crash site of Echo 51. The pilots and two marines are dead. John and two other marines are still alive. Me and the Arbiter and another marine are going to rescue them. We'll call for evac when we have them,"

_"Roger that, Eve. Good luck. Over and out," _the voice said.

Eve placed the radio back in the control panel and ran out of the cog pit and through the resting area to the Arbiter and the marine, who were standing outside the pelican's resting area.

"I've just talked with someone on the pelican's radio," she said as she stepped out of the pelican onto the ground. "Is there a base nearby called Crow's Nest?" she asked the marine.

"Yeah, there's a base about half a mile away," the marine answered.

"Alright," Eve said. "We need to find John and call for evac so we can get to the base."

Eve ran past the two up the left hill towards the bridge. The Arbiter and the marine followed. When the three reached the bridge, they ran across it to the other side. Ahead of them to their right was the cave at the other end of the hill. All they had to do was get there and they could call for evac. Eve ran towards the cave, the Arbiter and the marine right behind her. As they approached it, two large creatures suddenly flew out of the cave and charged towards the group.

"Drones!" the Arbiter shouted firing a shot at them, which missed.

The Drones retaliated by firing their own weapons at the three. Although the Arbiter's armour shield and Eve's bodysuit shield saved them from being killed, the marine was not so lucky. One blast ripped into his leg. The marine yelled in pain but before he even fell over onto the ground, one of the Drones dived down and grabbed the marine and threw him head first into the rock wall. The body hit it and fell down onto the ground and lay still.

Anger filled Eve's heart. If there was one thing she hated, it was seeing Covenant forces kill marines. She raised her battle rifle and fired at Drone. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the ground, dead. The other Drone fell next to him from a carbine shot by the Arbiter.

As Eve lowered her battle rifle and looked down at the marine's body on the ground. She felt sorry for him, as she had done with all the other marines who had fallen in combat with her on Earth or the Halo rings. She just wished that this war was not happening, but wishing was not going to help her or anyone in this war.

"He was a brave warrior," the Arbiter said, snapping Eve back into reality. "But your sergeant and his marines will follow the same fate if we do not hurry."

Eve nodded in agreement and ran with the Arbiter towards the cave, when they reached it, they ran inside. The cave was dimly lit but there was another exit about twenty feet away. Scattered up and down the cave were a few rocks.

"John?" Eve called, hoping for a reply.

She waited for a few seconds. No one replied. Where was he? He had to be here… unless the Covenant had captured him. No, how can that be true? There were only three Grunts chasing him and he had two other marines with him. Besides Grunts never took prisoners unless they had Jackals or Elites, or in this case Brutes due to the change in leadership, with them. So if the Grunts had not captured them, then where were they?

Eve and the Arbiter raised their weapons and walked into the cave. As they walked into the cave, Eve's foot suddenly hit something. She stopped and aimed her battle rifle down at it. The object her foot had hit was a Grunt. It was dead. Light blue blood covered the ground, creating a tiny patch of light. Nearby were the other two dead Grunts. So the Covenant troops chasing John and the marines had been killed, but where was they?

"Where the hell can they be?" Eve asked the Arbiter as she scanned the cave in front of them. "They can't have just disappeared into thin air,"

"Maybe they are waiting for us at the other end," the Arbiter answered.

The Arbiter was probably right. Maybe they were waiting at then other end of the cave. Probably so they could call for evac. Eve just hoped they were okay.

The two ran down to the cave to the end. When they emerged, they found themselves on a small pathway that overlooked an enormous open area. Ahead of them they could see a huge concrete wall, most likely reinforced with steel inside, that stretched over in front of an enormous lake. It was a dam. The dam was about thirty feet thick and a pathway about half as wide went over the top. At both ends of the dam were a few tall towers with holes in both sides large enough for a warthog to fit through. At the left end of the dam was a long rectangular structure that ran along the side of the rock wall. It had several large square shaped holes in It's sides, probably a parking stop for warthogs. A small cube shaped building was stood about fifteen feet in front of the left end of the long rectangular structure. About fifty feet below the pathway where Eve and the Arbiter were was a small river, at the bottom of a ravine, that came out of a few dug out holes in the side of the rock the dam was built over.

"Get in there, scum!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve and the Arbiter looked over towards the cube shaped building. A Brute dressed in golden green armour was pushing someone along. It was a marine. Eve and the Arbiter recognized the human instantly. It was John!

"See how they bait their trap?" the Arbiter asked, pointing at the Brute as it pushed John to the ground in front of the entrance into the cube shaped building.

The Brute roared at John, most likely telling him to get up. John hesitated on his hands and knees for a second before suddenly turning and throwing his hardest punch at the Brute, hitting the creature right in the stomach. The Brute scoffed at the sergeant, his punch obviously having no effect whatsoever. The Brute then kicked John in the stomach. John screwed up his face in a look of pain before he stumbled backwards into the building. Eve and the Arbiter then saw another two figures drag John further into the building, disappearing from sight.

"I will help you spring it," the Arbiter said.

Eve nodded and scanned the area for a way to get down to the dam. After a few seconds of searching, she found one. A small pathway led up the side of the rock wall behind Eve and the Arbiter and joined onto theirs. Eve looked down and saw a small rectangular shaped building with a huge chunk of It's roof missing about fifteen feet below. She could see a Jackal armed with a beam rifle standing on the top left corner of the structure, gazing out at the dam and the river below.

"Arbiter, " Eve said. "I need you to cover me from here. I'll try and clear this side and then we can go across the dam and rescue John,"

The Arbiter nodded and walked past Eve over to the edge of the pathway and knelt down. Eve ran down the pathway to the ground below. When she reached it, she ducked behind a small boulder and peeked her head out from behind it. Other than the Jackal standing guard on the roof of the rectangular structure, Eve could see two Grunts sleeping nearby. Another Jackal with an activated shield was patrolling up and down outside the enormous hole in the tower that led onto the top of the dam from the right side. Although she could not see them,. There was bound to be more Covenant troops nearby.

Eve raised her beam rifle-wait, where was it? Damn! She had left it behind the rock in the last area! She was stuck with her battle rifle. Eve raised her weapon and looked up at the edge of the pathway. Above her, she could see the Arbiter knelt down with his carbine aiming down at the Jackal on the building. He looked down at Eve and nodded. She nodded in reply.

A second later, the sound of a carbine shot filled the air. The Jackal on the building screeched loudly and fell forward over the edge into the river below. The two Grunts instantly shot up from their sleep and ran towards the tower, waving their arms in the air in panic. The Jackal that had been standing guard screeched loudly and ran into the opening. Eve got up and ran out from behind the rock past the Grunts towards the tower. The two Grunts were hit by more carbine shots and fell to the ground, dead. As Eve reached the tower, the Jackal suddenly ran out from the opening, only this time a Brute dressed in teal green armour and carrying a plasma rifle followed the creature out. Eve skidded to a halt and quickly fired a burst of ammo at the Jackal. The bullets hit the creature and it fell backwards onto the ground, dead.

"The demon is here!" the Brute shouted.

Eve dived behind the side of the tower as the Brute fired a few light blue blasts at her, narrowly missing one of them. The Brute growled and ran towards the side of the tower, determined to kill Eve. Suddenly, three carbine shots flew at the Brute. One hit the chest armour, denting it slightly and stopping the creature just feet from Eve's cover. The second struck the Brute in the stomach, causing a teal green/white colour to light up on the armour and disappear. The third hit the Brute's leg. The Brute roared in pain and fell to the floor. Eve looked out from behind her cover and saw the injured Brute. She fired a burst of ammo at the creature, hitting and killing it.

Eve ran out from behind the side of the tower and through the opening. Ahead of her was a small room with the other opening leading out onto the dam. Through the next opening, Eve could see the remains of several crate moving vehicles scattered along the sides of the dam's top. A dead worker lay nearby among a pile of boxes just outside the tower on the dam. Anger filled Eve's heart once again. Innocent civilians who had done barely any harm to the Covenant were being slaughtered. All because of a religious belief to the prophet. Eve and the Arbiter had to stop Truth. Soon they would. Right now, John and the marines had to be rescued.

Eve ran down the dam towards the end. When she was about half-way down the structure, a large figure ran out from behind the side of the tower to the left onto the dam. It was the Brute dressed in golden green armour. In his arms was a tall spire-like object with a sharp metal piece on one side of the spire and a small rectangular metal block attached to the other side. It was the gravity hammer. Eve had had a close encounter with one of these with a Brute on the prophet's ship above Earth. Eve went wide-eyed at seeing the deadly weapon again. Last time, she barely escaped getting killed. This time, she might not be as lucky.

"Prepare to be destroyed, demon!" the Brute shouted to Eve.

The Brute charged down the dam towards Eve so quickly that it was just feet in front of Eve in about two seconds. Eve dived away from the Brute. The air where she had just been standing seemed to explode as the brute swung his gravity hammer at her. Eve stood up from the ground, only to dive out of the way again as the brute swung his gravity hammer again.

As Eve got up, she saw the Arbiter waving at her. He was pointing towards the other end of the dam. Probably signalling her to go down towards the other end of the dam so he could fire on the Brute-WHAM! Eve was thrown through the air with bone-crushing force. Her battle rifle was thrown over the edge of the dam into the lake. Her body landed on the ground ten metres from where she had been standing. Eve groaned as she lifted her head up from the floor. Her body was hurting as if a car had slammed into her at full speed. Her suit's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The shield was completely empty! All it would take now was about one or two blasts and she was dead.

The Brute walked over to Eve, laughing evilly with a sneer on his face.

"You were weak demon," he said as he stopped two feet from Eve. "Now you shall die!"

The Brute raised his gravity hammer over his head. He was going to enjoy killing the wretched Human who had caused so much damage to the Covenant. Now it was time for payback. Eve went wide-eyed. It looked to be the end for her.

Suddenly, the Brute roared in pain as a shield on his armour lit up and disappeared. Eve saw a trickle of purple blood leak out onto the ground behind the Brute. Whatever had hurt the creature must have been powerful. The Brute fell backwards onto the ground, dropping It's gravity hammer. Eve looked up at the pathway and saw the Arbiter with his carbine aimed at where the Brute had been standing. He fired another shot at the creature, hitting it in the head and killing it. The Arbiter then stood up and ran down the pathway towards the ground.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. That was close. She had almost been killed, even though it was not the first time but no one's luck never lasted forever, even if they had managed escape death a hundred times in war. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist again. The level in the bar rose, turning from red to yellow to green. When it hit the top, the meter disappeared. Her suit was fully recharged.

"KILL DEMON!"

Eve looked over her shoulder to see two Grunts, both armed with plasma pistols, lumber out from behind the tower. Eve dived forward as the Grunts fired a few blasts at her. She hid behind the body of the Brute. The blasts hit the flesh of the dead creature and fizzed away as if the body was disintegrating. She had to kill them of she was to get to John.

Then, Eve noticed something next to her. It was the gravity hammer. She could use that to kill them. Eve grabbed the gravity hammer and managed to only just lift it off the ground. Man it was heavy. Eve stood up and spun round with the gravity hammer's metal piece and metal rectangular block end sticking out from her. Eve then let go of the gravity hammer. The weapon flew towards the Grunts, who screamed and turned and ran to get away from the weapon.

WHAM! The gravity hammer crashed into the two grunts. The blow was so powerful that both of the Grunts were sent flying off in opposite directions. One flew over one side of the dam into the lake, the other flew over the other side of the dam into the ravine below.

"Nicely done," the Arbiter said as he reached Eve, who was getting up from the floor.

"Thanks," she replied. "Let's go free John."

Eve and the Arbiter ran down the dam to the end. They turned left and ran across the ground past the rectangular shaped building built into the side of the rock wall. When they reached the cube shaped building, the Arbiter stopped outside the entrance.

"I shall keep watch," he said to Eve.

Eve nodded and ran into the cube shaped building. The building' inside was one large room with a few Covenant weapons placed on some large boxes along the walls. At the back of the room were three marines, who were sitting against the back wall. Hovering about six feet in front of them was a light blue haze. A shield of some kind. There was a large diamond shaped object hovering above eight seven feet off of the floor. It was a shield generator.

"Eve," John said as he lifted himself up from the floor. "Thanks for coming to rescue us,"

"It's okay," Eve replied. "Are you guys alright?" she asked them worryingly.

"Yeah, we're okay," one of the marines replied as John helped him to his feet. "Thanks sergeant. The worst they did was wind us so we couldn't make a run for it,"

"Oh, good," Eve said, breathing a sigh of relief.

She tried to stop smirking as she looked at John, who was waiting for her to deactivate the shield.

"This isn't as fun as it looks, Eve," John replied in a disappointed tone, folding his arms as if he were a teacher who was unimpressed with a student's work. "Can you please cut the power?"

Eve rolled her eyes and placed a hand on the diamond shield generator. At once, the object lit up a light blue colour. Then, the shield disappeared and the diamond hovered to the floor and lay there.

"Looks like the Brutes have managed to capture you again," Eve said to John as he and the marines walked over to the Covenant weapons scattered around the room.

"We're even," John replied as he picked up a plasma rifle. "As long as we're only counting today,"

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life. 

_"This is Crow's Nest to Eve, over," _a voice said.

Eve placed a finger on the radio.

"This is Eve," she replied. "Me and the Arbiter have just rescued John and two other marines,"

_"Good work, Eve,"_ the voice continued. _"We're sending drop ship Kilo 23 to your position. ETA three minutes,"_

"Thanks," Eve said. "We'll see when we get back to base,"

"Sergeant!" the Arbiter shouted as he appeared in the doorway. "Phantom inbound!"

"Alright, get ready," John said. "We have to hold out long enough until Kilo 23 arrives. Come on,"

John, Eve and the marines ran outside. The Arbiter was right. Flying about sixty feet above the rock wall on the other side of the ravine was a Covenant phantom. Inside was probably a squad of Covenant troops ready to fight and kill their enemies.

"We'll hold them off at the dam," John said.

The squad ran over to their end of the dam. When they reached it, they all took up positions. Eve and one of the marines hid behind a still mainly intact crate moving vehicle next to the right tower. The Arbiter took cover behind a pile of boxes with John and the other marine near the left tower. The squad waited with their weapons at the ready. They could hear the phantom descending on the other side of the ravine. They were ready to ambush the Covenant as soon as they were close enough for them all to be killed.

One second passed… two seconds, three. Where were the Covenant? Or was maybe was the phantom pretending to drop troops to lure them out. Ten seconds have passed. Still no Covenant soldiers! Eve was about to stand up and check to make sure there were Covenant troops coming towards the dam.

Suddenly, a large figure appeared from around the corner of the tower opening at the other end of the dam. It was a Brute dressed in teal green armour. It was carrying a Brute shot. Following the Brute were three Grunts and two Jackals. The Covenant soldiers ran up the dam towards the end, determined to kill the Humans and the Arbiter traitor.

"Get ready," John whispered, raising his plasma rifle slightly.

Closer and closer the Covenant squad came. They were just ten metres away. Eve could see them coming through a small gap between the driving seat and the holding section for the crates. She gripped her battle rifle tighter. Suddenly, the Brute stopped where he was and fired a shot at the boxes. One of the marines yelled out and fell to the ground. Blood was pouring from the side of his chest.

"THEY ARE HIDING BEHIND UP AHEAD! KILL THEM!" the Brute yelled.

The rest of the Covenant squad ran for cover behind any large pieces of what were crate moving vehicles or boxes. The Arbiter grabbed the marine and pulled him behind the boxes.

"Open fire," John ordered.

Eve, John and the other marine stood up and fired at the Brute whilst the Arbiter tried to stop the bleeding from the marine's chest. The barrage of bullets easily broke through the brute's shield and armour and embedded themselves in the chest and stomach of the creature. Finally, the Brute fell to the ground, dead.

"Kilo 23, where are you?" Eve shouted over the noise of the barrage into her ear radio.

"_We're just over half a klick away, Eve!" _a voice replied. _"ETA one minute!"_

Eve breathed a worrying sigh and quickly peeked her head out from behind her cover to see the Jackals with their shields placed in front of them to protect them. The Jackals were bad enough but the Grunts had not fled when the Brute had been killed. This was getting bad. She was starting to think that by the time Kilo 23 arrived, they were all going to be dead.

John fired a shot from his plasma rifle at the Covenant squad. It missed the Jackal, who he intended to hit, but hit a Grunt, that was standing behind the Jackal, in the head. The Grunt yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead.

"We can't hold them much longer," Eve shouted to John. "Let's just hope Kilo 23 get's here quick," John shouted back as he fired another blast at the Covenant squad.

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. Eve heard it clearly over the noise of the battle. It was probably the pelican. Yes! It's here! Now they could get out of here-oh no! The whirring sound was not coming from a pelican. It was coming from the worst thing when you hear a whirring noise. It was a phantom. The enormous craft hovered over the centre of the dam a few feet behind the Covenant squad. The circle on the bottom of the craft opened up. It was going to drop more troops! This was very bad, but there was nothing the squad could do to stop the craft. Eve braced herself for more Covenant troops to join their comrades in killing their enemies once and for all-

BOOM! An enormous explosion brought the fighting to a halt. The Covenant squad shot round to see the phantom swaying in mid-air as a huge fire erupted out of the front of the craft. One of the plasma turrets exploded and fell off the craft onto the dam. Eve, John, the marine and even the Arbiter and the injured marine watched the craft as it tipped on It's side and flew off into the rock wall on the other side of the ravine. BANG! The phantom exploded in a fireball that lit up the entire open area. The remains fell down into the ravine.

"What the hell…?" John said, completely aghast at what had just happened.

"_This is Kilo 23. I'm here to pick up some stragglers," _a man's voice said as a loud whirring sound filled the air once again.

One of the Jackals screeched loudly and pointed up at the sky above the lake as the shape of a pelican flew out from behind the rock wall that formed the lake and hovered won towards the dam.

"Mop up the rest!" John ordered.

John, Eve and the marine quickly fired on the remaining Covenant soldiers. The Jackals screeched and the Grunts yelled as they were hit. After a few seconds, all of the Covenant squad members were lying on the ground, dead.

When the pelican was ten feet from the dam's top, it turned so the resting area was facing the dam. The Arbiter picked up the injured marine and placed him over his shoulder and ran with the squad over to the pelican. The Arbiter handed the injured marine to John, who had already climbed onboard, and climbed into the pelican.

Eve was the last to reach the pelican. However, just as she was about to get in, the Arbiter grabbed her and pulled her into the pelican, causing her to land painfully on her side. Eve was about to yell at the Arbiter when…

BOOM! Something on the dam exploded. Everyone in the resting area looked and saw it was the turret. A fire quickly fought It's way to the surface of the turret's remains. Eve stood up and gazed wide eyed at the burning turret, then turned to the Arbiter.

"Thank you," she whispered, shocked that the Arbiter had just saved her.

The Arbiter nodded and walked away to the back of the resting area. The pelican hovered up away from the dam and flew off into the sky. Eve looked down at the burning remains as the pelican flew off into the sky. The view of the dam disappeared as the craft flew behind the hills.

"Thanks for rescuing us, Eve," Eve heard John say as he approached her.

"It's okay," Eve replied, looking over her shoulder at John. "Where is Crow's Nest?" she asked John.

"Not far from here," he replied. "Mary will glad to see you,"


	4. Crow's Nest

The pelican flew over the trees with ease. They had passed out of the area they knew was crawling with Covenant and were heading to the base known as 'Crow's Nest'.

They had only left the dam about four minutes ago but throughout the entire journey, the Arbiter had noticed Eve had been very quiet. He was thinking it was because she was still shocked because he saved her from being killed by a phantom's turret that exploded on the dam.

However, the Arbiter had gotten it wrong. Eve was quiet because of Auto. The last time she was on a pelican was he was still with here. Eve stared out at the passing jungle, taking in It's beauty. She just prayed that Auto would suddenly show up and come back to here, but she knew it was never going to be that simple. He was stuck on High Charity that was… God knows how far away and now most likely a dwelling for the almighty Flood. Who knows what he must be going through right now.

"Alright, we're coming into the base now," came John's voice from the cog pit.

A few seconds later, the pelican descended towards the jungle. Eve watched the scenery change from tree tops and a blue sky to green everywhere she looked. The pelican descended through a large opening, that was just big enough to allow the pelican to fit between it, cut out into a small rock hill. What made the gap slightly smaller was a small building the shape of a parallelogram's side. There was a large window on the front and on the sides of the building. Two workers were visible standing behind a control panel inside the building along the front window.

"_Sorry for the tight squeeze,"_ a voice said from the pelican's radio, which Eve could also hear from her ear radio.

"Commander, your ace is in the hole,"

"Perfect," came a woman's voice. 

It was Mary. So she had survived Tartarus as well, but how did she, along with John and the Arbiter, get back to Earth?

The pelican descended further into the base until it was hovering above a large square shaped platform with four pathways leading off from the four corners of the platform. The landing gears unfolded themselves and touched down on the platform, bringing the craft to a halt. The engines shut off immediately.

The marines of the pelican stepped down onto the platform. Two marines rushed out from one of the corridors with a gurney. John and one of the marines that had just got off the pelican placed the injured marine on the gurney. The two marines then wheeled him off back into the corridor they had just come from.

Eve and the Arbiter stepped off of the pelican onto the platform. Eve looked around and saw several marines in groups of two to four sitting on or leaning against some large crates. Some marines had blood stained bandages on their arms, legs or heads. One had a bandage round his chest and over the whole left side of his head. Probably a plasma grenade.

A group of marines, who were wrapping a bandage round a comrade's arm whilst he was lying down on a large box after having another bandage, that was also blood stained, wrapped around his eyes, nearby noticed Eve.

"Hey, check it out," one of them said, nodding his head over to Eve.

The second marine looked to where his friend gestured and saw Eve.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "It's Eve!"

"For real?" the wounded marine piped up all of a sudden, shooting up on the crate as if he had received an electric shock. "You better not be kidding me,"

"No, man," the second marine said. "She's here! We're gonna be alright,"

Eve and the Arbiter joined the squad as they walked over to the pathway leading off from the top right corner of the platform that went past the parallelogram's side shaped structure built into the rock wall of the pit. A small pathway came off the right side of the one the squad was on and went towards a small doorway on the side of the parallelogram structure.

"Where did you find her?" came a woman's voice from their right.

Eve and the Arbiter looked and saw a young woman with brown hair, brown eyes and looked to be in her mid twenties walking towards them from the pathway that led from the parallelogram structure. It was Mary.

"We found her napping out back," John replied as Mary approached them.

"I'll bet," Mary said, holding up her hand. "It's good to have you back, Eve,"

"Likewise, Ma'am," Eve replied, shaking Mary's hand.

The four joined the squad as they walked into a small tunnel and through a doorway into a metal corridor with smaller corridors leading off both left and right. Wounded marines and medics lined the corridor. The squad split up into different corridors, leaving the four alone.

Eve looked helplessly at these soldiers. They had been fighting hard and she had not been here to help them. She felt really guilty. She should not have left Earth. Then again, she had been launched into slip space rupture with Regret's ship, which she knew was not her fault but still… She just still felt really guilty for not being here to help her fellow comrades when they need her.

"So what's happened while I've been gone?" she asked, hoping to take her mind off the marines but it was hard to do so.

"The prophet of Truth's ships breached the Lunar perimeter." Mary explained. "Smashed what was left of the Home Fleet. Only the _Cairo_ and about seven other ships are all that's left of Earth's space defences."

"What about the casualties?" Eve asked.

"The casualties in both UNSC marines and civilians were…"

Mary was suddenly cut off when two marines rushed by with another gurney. The squad moved aside to allow the gurney to pass. Eve only managed to catch a glimpse of a wounded marine with a heavily blood stained bandage around his chest and neck before the gurney turned left into another corridor and disappeared from sight. Again, another wave of guilt swept over her. That was another marine that had been wounded and that Eve was not around to help.

"Extreme," Mary continued as the group moved on down the corridor. "Truth could have landed anywhere but instead of attacking separate landing zones like Regret did, he committed all his forces here. East Africa. They glassed New Mombassa. And then, they started digging,"

"What about Halo?" Eve asked as the squad turned right towards a flight of stairs.

"We stopped it, but only temporarily," Mary answered.

The squad walked up the flight of stairs into a large half circular, half rectangular shaped room with a large computer screen the size of a pelican's resting area on the stone wall of the room. Scattered around the room were several control panels and holographic screens. A few marines were working on portable computers placed on a few large crates. Behind the four was a raised section of the room that led to a doorway on the back wall of the room. Several wounded marines were lined up along the walls of this room as well. The room was lit up by a series of large lights hanging from the ceiling and walls.

"Now the Prophet of Truth is looking for something called 'The Ark'. From there, he'll be able to fire all the Halo rings. If he succeeds, Humanity, the Covenant, every being in the Galaxy…"

"The rings will kill us all," Eve finished the sentence.

"Ma'am, I have Lord Hood," a nearby worker on a control panel said.

"Patch him through," Mary ordered.

The worker nodded and pressed a button on the control panel. The enormous computer screen lit up with a large platform with a control panel in the background. A tall elderly man, in his late 50's/early 60's was standing in the middle of the computer screen. He was dressed in a white high ranking UNSC navy uniform. It was Lord Hood.

"Good news, Commander McCrea?" he asked.

"As good as it gets, sir," Mary replied. "We've managed to get Eve back,"

"That's excellent." Hood said. "We're not out of the game yet. You okay, Eve?" he asked her.

"Yes sir," Eve answered.

"Good," Hood said. "Now, Eve, the commander's come up with a good plan. But without your help, I wasn't sure we were going to be able to pull it off,"

"Truth's ship's are clustered over the excavation site," Mary explained to Eve. "His infantry have deployed anti-air batteries around the perimeter. But if we can destroy at least one of the batteries, punch a hole in Truth's defences…"

"I'll initiate a low-level strike," Hood took over the explaining. "I only have four ships left, Eve. And one of them is needed to defend the _Cairo_. It's a big risk, but I'm confident-"

Suddenly, the whole room went pitch black. The lights and the computer screen had shut off.

"Ah, hell! Not again!" Eve heard a worker growl.

"Get the emergency generators up and running," Mary ordered.

"Hang on, ma'am, I can't see," another worker's voice said. "Shielding failed. They're down and charging,"

"As soon as the generators are up, re-establish contact with Lord Hood." Mary ordered. "Tell him that-"

Suddenly, the room lit up again, only this time it came from the large computer screen. Eve could see the silhouette's of the Arbiter, John, Mary and few other workers and marines around the room. However, on the computer screen, it was not Lord Hood. It was an alien dressed in robes, had a crown on his head and was sitting in a hover chair.

It was Truth.

"**You are, all of you, vermin!" **he said. His voice was really hoarse, probably because Eve had kicked him in the throat when she was on his ship. **"Cowering in the dirt, thinking what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No. Your world will burn until It's surface is but glass and not even your demon will live to creep, blackened from It's hole to mar the reflection of our passage… the culmination of our Great Journey. And I intend to do so with the keys of the Journey. For example, this."**

Truth lowered his robed arm and an object slid down from underneath the robe into his hand. He held it up to show the people in the base. It was a light blue diamond shaped crystal.

Eve gasped and squeezed her shoulder. She waited but nothing came up.

"That son of a bitch!" she exclaimed, causing everyone in the room to look at her. "He took from the crystal from me!"

**"As I was saying, your destruction is the will of the Gods!" **Truth continued. **"And I? I **_**am **_**their instrument!"**

As soon as Truth finished speaking, the computer screen shut off, darkening the room once again. A second later, the lights turned back on, lighting up the room again.

"Bastard," John said, shaking his head slightly. "Just loves to run his mouth,"

"I take it he usually mentions me," Eve said to Mary, who replied with a nod.

"Why does his voice sound hoarse?" the Arbiter asked.

"Let's just say I stowed away on his ship and my foot had a word with his throat," Eve answered.

"Alert the base, " she said to a nearby worker. "We're evacuating,"

"Why, what's going to happen, Ma'am?" another nearby worker asked.

"We're about to get hit," Mary answered. "All wounded, get them to the hanger and get them out of here,"

All the workers in the room looked up at Mary. They could not believe she had ordered the evacuation they never thought would happen. I mean, they knew the base would be found but… the amount of personal wounded and killed… they had not been expecting it.

"What are waiting for?" Mary half-shouted at the workers. "Put the base on alert and get everyone out of here,"

"You heard her, marines," a nearby squad captain said.

The workers immediately got back to working on their control panels or portable computers. They were given their orders and they were going to follow them if it was to bring humanity one step closer to defeating the Covenant or save the lives of their comrades.

"Looks like you'll be fighting our friends again, Eve," Mary said to her.

"Nothing new there," Eve replied.

"Ma'am," a nearby worker said. Mary looked at him. "Our squad leaders are requesting a rallying point. Where should they go?"

Mary reached onto the side of the belt and took out a M6C pistol. She cocked it, allowing the ammunition inside to click into place.

"To war," Mary said, gazing down her pistol.

A nearby worker slammed the control panel he was working at. He was working on was a small computer screen built into the control panel. The image had a CCTV camera's view of a corridor with a steel door at the end. It was starting to go fuzzy.

"We might lose the security camera's in sector 4, ma'am," the worker said to Mary as she walked over.

_BOOM! _An explosion was heard from the screen. The worker and Mary looked and saw that the steel door was now engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Then, a light blue blast shot out of the cloud of smoke down the corridor. A second later, a large figure wearing teal green armour ran into the corridor. A Brute. The Brute looked up at the camera, growled and fired a shot at the camera's screen. The image went fuzzy and then turned black. In red letters the words **Connection lost **appeared across the screen.

The worker swore under his breath and pounded the control panel with his fist.

"The Covenant have entered the base," he said. "At this rate, we'll have a few minutes unless we can hold 'em off,"

"Ma'am, we've got reports of Covenant forces entering in the warthog bay," another nearby worker warned.

"Alright," Mary announced, turning to Eve. "Eve, I need you to help the marines in the warthog bay,"

"What about John and the Arbiter?" Eve asked.

"We'll be alright, Eve," John answered. "Me and the Arbiter will guard the Ops centre. The entrance to the warthog bay is downstairs,"

Eve nodded and ran towards the staircase. A marine holding an assault rifle was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs in the corridor Eve ran down the stairs to the bottom.

"Follow me, Eve," he said.

The marine ran right down the corridor; Eve followed. The two ran down the corridor and turned left through a doorway into a large square shaped room with weapons placed on a few boxes and stood up in weapon racks scattered around the room. Another steel door was on the opposite wall of the room. Eve ran over to a nearby crate and picked up a battle rifle. The marine ran over to the other end of the door and opened it; Eve followed.

The two found themselves in a large dug out cave-like room with several rock pillars going up from a raised section of the ground to the ceiling. A few small metal pathways were leading up from the ground in front of Eve to the raised section of the dug out room. At the back of the room, also at the highest point of the raised section of the dug out room, was a small concrete bunker which was shaped like a half-hexagon. A small doorway was in the middle of the front of the bunker. Two long windows ran went along the middle of the bunker to the ends where the concrete of the bunker met the stone of the wall.

Several marines were scattered around the room. Two were working on setting up a deployable machine gun on the ground next to one of the rock pillars that perfectly overlooked the doorway into the dug out room.

"Get those turrets up," a nearby sergeant commanded to a group of marines. "Watch your field of fire,"

Eve and the marine ran up the pathway past the marines.

"How do you think they found the base?" a nearby marine asked.

"Probably smelled you, man," another marine suggested.

"Hey, bite me. I'm sick of hiding anyways," the first marine said.

Suddenly, the cave shook slightly, causing a small cloud of dust to fall from the ceiling. One of the marines breathed in deeply as if praying the ceiling would not collapse. If it did, then everyone in this cave would be dead.

Eve and the marine ran through the doorway into the bunker. At the end on the back wall of the building was another steel door. The two ran towards the door. It opened as they approached it, revealing a metal circle shaped room with some kind of fan-like surfaced floor and a huge pillar going through the middle of the room. Another corridor led off to the right. Eve and the marine ran down the corridor. When they were half-way down it, Eve's ear radio crackled to life, causing her and the marine to stop.

_"__Eve?" _came Mary's voice. _"Good this channel is clear," _she continued before Eve could reply. _"My fire teams are spread thin. We can't hold out forever. We've got reports of Covenant in the hanger. I need you to clear it for evac,"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear. 

"Roger that, Mary," she said.

Suddenly, a loud noise filled the corridor. Eve lowered her hand and raised her battle rifle. She cautiously walked down the corridor towards another smaller corridor that led off left from the one she and the marine were in. As she got closer to the smaller corridor, she could hear the same noise again, only this time it was slightly louder and seemed continuous. What the hell was it?

"What the hell is that?" the marine asked as he peeked his head out from behind the side of the corner of the wall to look down the corridor.

At the end of the smaller corridor was another steel door. The marine raised his weapon and walked down the corridor towards the end. Eve followed him. As the two came closer to the door, they could now hear voices shouting and screams that did not sound Human.

"Get ready," the marine said to Eve, looking over his shoulder at her. "They're most likely on the other side of this door."

Eve nodded and gripped her battle rifle tighter. The marine stepped closer to the door and reached out to press a button on the wall that would open it. Eve breathed in. What she or the marine did know was how many Covenant were on the other side of the door and what type they were? Hopefully, they were not anything like Brutes or Drones.

The marine pressed the button on the wall. A loud unlocking-like sound filled the corridor. The door swung open.

As soon as the door had opened, Eve and the marine were hit with a wave of destruction. A warthog with a machine gun was been parked a few metres in front of the door in a long tunnel that was well over a hundred feet long and turned left at the end. There was a marine manning the turret of the warthog and he was firing away down the tunnel. Another marine was sitting in the passenger seat of the warthog and was firing bursts of ammo from his battle rifle down the tunnel. Eve and the marine ran into the tunnel.

BOOM! An explosion threw the two to the floor. Eve groaned as she got up to see the warthog remains crash into the wall a few metres behind where it had just been. Whatever that was, it must have been powerful. The marine lying on the floor in front of her groaned as he lifted himself up.

"Thanks, Eve," he said as she helped him up.

"There she is! Kill the demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve and the marine looked down the tunnel. Apart from the many barricades, piles of boxes and large trucks that had their wheels and parts of their vehicle missing, there was a squad of seven Grunts running up the tunnel. Leading them was a Brute wearing teal green armour. In his hand was the deadly spiker weapon.

The Brute raised his weapon and fired a barrage of orange spikes down the tunnel towards the two Humans. Eve dived to the floor, pulling the marine down with her. Both narrowly missed the spikes as they flew over their heads and hit the back wall of the tunnel. Eve quickly fired a burst of ammo at the Brute. The creature roared in pain as the bullets broke through his armour, causing small sparks of electricity to crackle across his skin as if he were a robot being short-circuited.

"Die bad guys!" one of the Grunts shouted.

One of the grunts took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw it down the tunnel towards Eve and the marine. Eve saw it coming swung her battle rifle at the device as it was just inches away. The grenade soared through the air back towards the Covenant squad.

"RUN AWAY! SAVE YOURELVES!" one of the Grunts screamed as it turned and ran up the tunnel waving It's arms in the air in terror.

The grenade landed on the Brute as it was trying to recover from the damage done by the bullets on his armour. The brute screamed and tried to pull the plasma grenade off him. BOOM! The plasma grenade exploded, killing the Brute.

"They got leader!" another of the grunts squeaked. "Run away!"

The remaining Grunts turned and ran down the tunnel. Eve and the marine ran down the tunnel after them. When the two were about half-way down the tunnel, they saw the Grunts run through a doorway on the left wall of the tunnel about ten feet ahead. Eve raised her battle rifle and ran over to the doorway, pressing her back up against the wall. The marine did the same next to her.

Eve stepped closer to the doorway so she was now literally on the corner of the wall. She peeked her head out from behind the wall to see a long steel corridor about thirty feet long with a corridor leading both left and right at the end, but there was one thing that concerned Eve. Where were the Grunt?

"Whoa!" Eve exclaimed as she moved her head back behind the wall.

That was close. She had just narrowly avoided a purple laser that had shot down the corridor towards her. It was only her quick reactions that had saved her from being severely injured, even with her suit's shield, or worse… she could have died.

"Great," she growled. "Now there's a Jackal down there with a beam rifle."

A loud screech erupted from the corridor. A second later, Eve heard light footfalls gradually getting louder. The Grunts.

Then, an idea popped into Eve's head.

"Quick, behind the barricade," Eve ordered.

The marine ran over to the barricade with Eve and hid behind it. Eve quickly peeked her head out from behind the barricade just in time to see the first few Grunts run out of the corridor into the tunnel. One of them looked around, searching for the two.

"Bad guys disappeared," it squeaked to It's comrades.

Perfect! They had lost sight of them. Now Eve and the marine had to strike quickly. Hopefully, the Grunts being slaughtered would cause the Jackals to run up the corridor. They would be easy targets. All Eve had to worry about her idea going wrong.

As the last of the Grunts ran out of the corridor, Eve and the marine aimed their weapons out from behind the barricade and fired. The tunnel was filled with the screams of dying Grunts as they fell one after the other. Within a few seconds, all seven Grunts were lying dead on the floor.

Eve ran out from behind the barricade towards the doorway. As she reached it, two Jackals suddenly ran out from the corridor into the tunnel. They screeched as they saw Eve and the marine but before they could react, Eve and the marine fired at the two creatures, killing them both.

"Let's hope that's the last of them," Eve said.

Eve ran over to the doorway and peeked her head out from behind the wall to look down the corridor. It was clear but that was on first sight. There were probably more Covenant waiting at the other end. Eve raised her battle rifle and stepped into the corridor. The marine followed her in, his weapon also raised. The two had their fingers resting on the triggers of their weapons. If any Covenant tired to ambush them, then they would be able to kill them.

After a few tense seconds, Eve and the marine reached the end of the corridor. Now which way where they to go? One of these ways must lead to the hanger but which one? Eve looked right but saw the way blocked by a pile of rubble that had once been the ceiling and side walls of the corridor. So left it was.

Eve and the marine ran left down the corridor towards another large circular shaped room with a fan-like surfaced floor and a tall pillar sticking up to the ceiling in the middle of the room. When Eve and the marine reached the room, they saw another corridor leading off to right. The two ran down this corridor towards the end.

Suddenly, Eve skidded to a halt. She held out an arm, stopping the marine as well.

"What is it?" the marine asked her.

"Listen," Eve said, raising her finger as if she could summon what she had just heard. "There's something going on up ahead,"

The two kept quiet like statues. A second later, a loud faint boom filled the corridor. Even though it was faint, it was loud enough to raise suspicion. What was it?

"Are the hangers nearby?" Eve asked the marine, who replied with a nod.

"Up ahead," he said. "Follow me,"

The marine ran past Eve down the corridor; Eve followed. When they reached the end, they turned left into another smaller corridor. The noise came again, stopping Eve and the marine, only this time it was louder. They must be getting closer to the hanger. The marine continued on down the corridor with Eve behind him. They turned right into another small corridor. They stopped dead.

Ahead of them was a doorway that led into a large room. However, a large wall blocked most of the view of the room. All the two could see was a small stairway on the left leading up onto the wall.

Suddenly, a loud high-pitched scream erupted from the room. It sounded like a Grunt. No sooner than a second passed before a deep voice shouted out, followed by the sound of plasma firing. A man from somewhere in the room shouted and the sound of gunfire erupted, filling the corridor with noise like thunder.

Eve ran past the marine towards the room; the marine followed. When the two entered the room, they found themselves on a small raised floor of concrete about ten feet above the main metal floor of a large hanger that was about one hundred feet long and about fifty feet high. The wall next to the two was actually the bottom wall of a large command centre-like building with a glass window along the front and sides of the building. The stairwell led up to a doorway on the side of the building. Two stairwells led down to the metal floor from the raised sections of floor. Next to them was a small sandbag wall a deployable machine gun turret sticking out over the top. For the top twenty feet of the right wall of the hanger was a large dug out hole with metallic hooks holding onto the flying vehicles known as pelicans. Along the concrete pathways that ran along both sides of the metal floor to the end of the hanger were several openings that led underneath the metal floor.

Another loud scream caught the two's attention. Suddenly, a Grunt came running out from behind the wall, waving It's arms around in terror. Then, a burst of gunfire filled the hanger, followed by a scream. The Grunt fell forward onto the floor, dead. Two marines ran out from behind the wall. They stopped when they saw Eve.

"Oh, Eve," one of them said as she and the marine ran over to them. "Thank God you're here,"

"Are you guys okay?" she asked the marine.

"Just barely," he answered. "We've only been able to hold them off. For the moment, they're outta here but they keep coming from the battle cruiser,"

The marine pointed out of the hanger entrance ahead of them. Eve walked past the marine, who along with comrades, ran up the stairwell into the building. Eve walked down he stairwell that led from the raised concrete floor to the metal floor. She passed several bodies of dead Covenant and marines. The fighting here must have been quick but brutal.

As Eve walked across the metal floor towards the end of the hanger, a large shape slowly became visible. It was two spires connected to a large craft of some kind. As Eve got closer to the hanger entrance, the craft came into full view. It was a Covenant CCS Battle cruiser. In the air not far from the ship, about halfway between it and the hanger were large numbers of Covenant fighters engaged in dogfights with a group of UNSC craft Eve had never seen before. So the carrier was most likely where the Covenant were coming from. At least the UNSC fighters were keeping the banshees at bay, otherwise this evacuation could quickly turn into a disaster.

"EVE WATCH OUT!"

Suddenly, a large shape blocked out Eve's peripheral vision. Whilst she had been looking at the carrier and the dogfight raging in the sky, a phantom had flown into the hanger. The three enormous canons aimed at Eve as if they had eyes. Eve ran back towards the raised concrete floor at the other end of the hanger. A barrage of red blasts flew at her. One narrowly missed her as it flew in front of her and hit the hanger wall.

"AAAAHHH!"

Eve fell to the floor as a blast hit her in the back. Her suit's shield lit up and disappeared. Eve groaned as she got up. Her suit's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was in the bar was empty and blinking red. The sound of metal moving drew Eve's attention, she turned over to see one of the turret's aiming down at her. Oh no. Her shield was still empty. One more blast was all that was needed to finish her off for good now.

Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. The turret aimed up towards the other end of the hanger and fired another barrage of blasts. Eve quickly got up and ran back up the stairwell and dived behind one of the sandbag walls, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the turret that was placed behind the sandbag wall. She saw the other marines, two of who were hiding behind the other sandbag wall next to the other stairwell and the third using the doorway of the building as cover, firing at the phantom. Their weapons would not be enough to destroy the craft's turrets. She was going to have to help them, but how?

Wait! The deployable turret's. Eve was right next to one. Surely it would be enough to destroy the turrets. Hopefully they would.

Eve moved behind the turret, setting her own weapon down, and placed one hand on the turret's trigger and the main section of the turret. She aimed the weapon over at the nearest turret, the one that had almost killed her, and pressed down on the trigger.

A barrage of bullets flew out at the phantom's turrets. They pounded hard on the armour. Sparks flew from the turret as the barrage finally broke through and hit the internal wiring and power cores inside the turret. The enormous gun aimed over at her but as another blast quickly formed up, which Eve could see happening through the hole she had made…

BOOM! The turret exploded and broke into large chunks as it fell off the turret onto the floor. The phantom immediately reared backwards like a creature being struck a terrible blow. However, it showed no sign of flying out of the hanger. Then, the sides of the phantom opened up and squad of Grunts jumped out of both sides of the craft onto the floor. Following close behind both squads were two Brutes wearing teal green armour and armed with plasma rifles.

"Kill them!" one of the Brutes shouted as it landed on the metal floor of the hanger.

The Covenant squad opened fire on the marines and Eve. The phantom reared backwards towards the hanger entrance. When it was outside the hanger, the craft turned and flew off into the sky, disappearing from sight.

Eve pressed down on the deployable machine gun's trigger, causing another barrage of bullets to fly at the Covenant squad. Two of the Grunts were hit and yelled loudly as they flipped backwards onto their stomachs, dead. One of the Brutes growled and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at Eve. However, the sandbag wall protected her from most of the blasts. Those that did manage to get past the sandbags either hit the wall or the turret. Eve aimed the turret at the Brute and fired. The bullets easily broke through the little armour the Brute was wearing and, after a few seconds, he fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"THEY GOT LEADER!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The Grunt turned and ran towards the entrance of the hanger. However, the other Brute grabbed the Grunt by the throat and growled something before he threw him into one of the hanger walls. The Grunt slid down onto the floor and lay still.

"Kill them you whelps!" the Brute commanded to the remaining Grunts.

The Grunts obeyed and fired a barrage of blasts from their weapon at the marines and Eve. The Brute took out a small plasma grenade and pressed down on the orange thunderbolt. The device lit up in the Brute's hand. He threw it into the air straight towards Eve. She saw it coming and dived away from the turret.

BOOM! The plasma grenade landed on the turret and exploded. Eve looked back and saw the turret, along with her weapon, was now completely destroyed. Well that was great! She had no weapon-

Wait a minute! There was the other turret next to the other stairwell. She could use that to fight the Covenant. Eve stood up and ran off the stairwell and across the raised concrete floor towards the other stairwell. The Covenant squad fired on her. Thankfully, the blasts missed her and hit the wall.

Finally, Eve reached the turret, which she dived the last few feet to. She manned the turret, aimed it and fired. Another barrage of bullets flew out at the Covenant squad. She hit and killed two Grunts. The Brute growled and fired up at Eve. She ducked, narrowly missing the blasts as they flew over her head and hit the wall behind her. However, the marines saw the Brute had been distracted. They fired a barrage of bullets at him. They easily broke through his armour and embedded themselves in his skin. The brute roared loudly before he fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The Grunts turned and ran towards the hanger entrance. The marines raised their weapons and fired at the fleeing Grunts. Four loud screams filled the air. All the Grunts had been hit and now lay on the floor, dead.

"Is that the last of them?" Eve asked herself as she stood up and scanned the hanger.

She got her answer when her hearing picked up a familiar whirring noise. Oh no! There were more of them coming, and judging by the defeat of the first drop of Covenant troops, there was going to be more than one coming this time.

"More of them are coming," she shouted to the marines.

"Oh great," one of the marines replied, groaning. "We were only just able to hold one wave off,"

Eve sighed. He was right. They had almost lost this battle with the Covenant, and that was only with two squads of Grunts and both being led by a Brute. Who knows what was coming this time.

Eve shook her head. Oh come on! She had been through worse and so had the marines… However, there was a big difference. She had a bodysuit with a shield. The marines did not, and because of that whenever they were in really bad situations when fighting the Covenant they were the ones that were getting hurt or killed, not her.

"Here they come!" one of the marines shouted all of a sudden.

Eve snapped back into reality and looked back towards the hanger entrance. Another phantom was hovering inside the hanger, and it was not alone. Behind it was another. Both were probably full to bursting with Covenant troops. This was not good at all.

Eve quickly manned the turret and fired a barrage of bullets at the two enormous craft as they hovered closer. One of the turrets on the first phantom aimed towards Eve but the constant barrage broke through the weapon's armour and caused it to fall off the craft. The craft reared back slightly and ended up hitting the front of the phantom behind it. Eve smiled. Maybe this was not going to be too bad.

That thought was quickly put out of her mind when the sides of the two crafts opened up. However, this time it was not Grunts or Brutes that left the crafts to fight. It was two enormous aliens Eve and the marines knew very well. They were Hunters.

The Hunter from the second phantom ran over to It's partner as the two phantom reared backwards towards the hanger entrance and flew off into the sky when they were outside.

The two Hunters aimed their cannons at their enemies ahead of them. Eve saw what was coming.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed.

The next thing she knew, the room seemed to explode all around her as two enormous green lasers flew out of the Hunters' cannons towards her and the marines. Eve dived to the floor. Loud crashing and explosions filled the room. It looked as though the Hunters were preparing to cave in the hanger regardless that they could be killed as well.

After a few seconds, the lasers stopped. Eve groaned as she looked up at the Hunters through a gap in the sandbag wall caused by one of the lasers. She saw the two enormous creatures standing there with their laser still aimed at where they had just been firing. Eve looked at where the turret was and, miraculously, saw it was still intact.

Eve quickly and quietly, pulled herself over to the turret, keeping an eye on the Hunters, who, for the moment, had not spotted her. When Eve reached the turret, she used it to help lift herself onto her knees and then aimed it at the Hunters. Her finger on the trigger, she press down.

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. One of the Hunters was hit repeatedly in the face and the stomach weak spot in the gap between the chest and groin armour pieces until it fell to the floor, dead. The other Hunter growled. Eve went wide-eyed and gulped. It was good she had killed one of the Hunters, but she knew it was bad killing one Hunter when there was a pair of them. The other Hunter suddenly charged towards Eve. Eve panicked and dived away from the turret as the Hunter swung It's enormous metal sword at where she had just been. The sword easily broke through the sandbag wall and tore apart the turret as if it were paper. The Hunter growled again at missing It's enemy and charged up the staircase. Eve saw the incoming threat and dived off the stairwell onto the concrete floor, narrowly missing another swipe by the Hunter's metal sword.

Eve got up from the floor and ran across the concrete floor to the stairwell that led up to the hanger's building. However, when she reached it, she saw the entire stairwell had been blown apart and the remains were lying in a pile on the floor below where the stairwell would have been. On the top of the pile of rubble were the bodies of three dead marines. Next to them were their weapons. Eve sighed sadly. Like always in war, survivors of near death causes feel guilty for those who were not as lucky as they were.

A loud growl attracted Eve's attention. The Hunter! Eve grabbed hold of the battle rifle of one of the marines and ran down the stairwell to the metal floor. The Hunter saw her and charged full speed towards her, raising It's metal sword. Eve saw the coming danger and sprinted along the concrete pathway that went along the side of the metal floor. The Hunter chased after her. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw the creature chasing after her. She had to do something or she was as good as dead.

Then an idea popped into her head. It was dangerous and had a very little chance of working but it was better than running around.

When Eve was about half-way down the concrete pathway, with the Hunter literally a few feet behind her, Eve dived through one of the openings that led underneath the metal floor, narrowly missing another swipe from the Hunter's metal sword. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. The gap was too small for the Hunter to fit through so, for the moment, was safe. Eve looked up and watched the enormous figure of the Hunter run across the metal floor as if it were trying to find Eve. All Eve had to do was wait by one of the gaps and then when the Hunter had It's back facing her, she could fire on the weak spot and kill it- Wait a minute. The Hunter had stopped just a few feet from being directly above her. What was it doing?

CRASH! The metal sword of the creature suddenly broke through the metal floor before being pulled out, leaving an enormous hole Eve could easily pull herself up through. Eve watched as the Hunter raised It's arm cannon. A green colour began to charge up inside it. Eve ran from the hole as the sound of a laser firing filled the room. The hole where the Hunter stuck It's metal sword was suddenly made bigger as the laser cut through the metal and even left a scorch mark on the floor below. Eve ran towards one of the openings. The Hunter was distracted, though it had not worked in the way she had suspected. Never mind that now. She had to kill I-

BANG! A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room, followed by a loud growl and then a thud. What the hell had happened? Eve ran out from underneath the metal floor to see a group of marines standing on the concrete floor. One of them noticed Eve.

"You okay, Eve?" he shouted over to her.

"Yeah, thanks," Eve replied.

A large shape suddenly hovered out from the opening in the right wall above Eve. She looked up and saw it was one of the pelicans. The craft hovered out of the opening before turning so the front was facing the hanger entrance. The craft lowered down towards the metal floor. The landing gears unfolded themselves and touched down, bringing the craft's descent to a halt.

"Command centre, this is private Thompson," one of the marines said as he ran towards the pelican with his comrades. "The hanger has been cleared, over,"

_"Roger," _came John's voice, which Eve also heard in her ear radio. _"Eve, we need you back at the command centre, ASAP,"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Roger that," she said. "I'm on my way back,"

Eve lowered her hand and ran along the concrete pathway towards the concrete level at the back of the hanger. She ran up the stairwell onto the top of the concrete raised floor and across it to the hanger's exit. As she ran down the corridor, another group of marines passed her. Two of them were carrying a wounded marine with a bandage around his stomach and arm. Eve ran left down the next corridor and then right into the next that led to the large circular shaped room with a fan-like surfaced floor and a large pillar sticking up to the ceiling in the middle of the room. Eve ran down to the room and turned left into the next corridor.

_"Attention! Hostiles reported outside the barracks!" _came Mary's voice from the base's built in loudspeaker.

Looks like the Covenant were increasing the strength of their forces. If they got further into the base, they would reach the command centre.

_For once, I hope I'm not thrown right into their advancing units. _Eve thought as she turned right into the corridor that led back out into the tunnel. When Eve reached the end of the tunnel, she saw two marines standing there waiting for her.

"Good to see you, Eve," one of them said as she came out of the tunnel. "Commander wants us to take you back to the command centre,"

Eve nodded and ran right down the tunnel with the two marines. Suddenly, one of the marines skidded to a halt. Eve and the other marine stopped next to him as well.

"What is it?" Eve asked.

Before the marine could answer, a loud muffled/metallic droning-like noise filled the air. The marine pointed his weapon at a large grey pipe on the wall about fifteen feet above them. Eve looked at the pipe. That was where the noise was coming from… but what the hell was it? No man could fit inside that pipe, neither could any Covenant get-

Covenant! It sounded impossible but that had to be the source of the noise. Eve searched her thoughts for what the noise could be. If it was Covenant the types that were going to be thin and agile enough to fit into the pipe were… Drones. So it was pretty obvious that they were going to start charging out of the vents at some point. Hopefully that would be when everyone was out of the base.

"We better hurry and get back to the command centre," one of the marines said.

The three ran on down the tunnel towards the end. They turned right through the doorway Eve came through earlier and ran down the corridor towards the main corridor.

_"The barracks are under attack!" _came Mary's voice over the base's built in intercom again. _"All available combat teams, respond!"_

When they reached it, they turned right and ran down the corridor into the large fan-like surfaced room with an open doorway on the left wall. The three ran through the open doorway into the large bunker in the dug out cave.

"Hey guys," a marine at the bunker's entrance shouted to them. "Glad you could join u-AAAAH!"

The marine was suddenly lifted off his feet into the air. A second later, loud shouts and screeches filled the cave. Eve and the marines ran down the bunker into the cave. They went wide-eyed at the sight they saw.

The Drones they had heard in the pipe in the tunnel were in the cave, but there was not five or ten like there was in a normal swarm. There must have been at least thirty! One of the Drones threw a ventilator door, from a nearby ventilating system along the wall of the cave about twenty feet above the door leading into the cave, at a marine that was running up the metal steps that led up to the ground in front of the bunker. It hit the marine in the head, throwing him onto the railing and knocking him out cold. The Drone that had grabbed the marine at the bunker's entrance threw him at one of the rock pillars head first. The marine fell to the ground, dead, leaving a small blood mark on the rock pillar.

"What the hell are those things?" a marine near the left side of the cave shouted.

"Drones!" another marine on the other side of the cave shouted back. "It's a whole swarm!"

"We have to help them!" Eve exclaimed.

Eve raised her battle rifle and fired at one of the Drones as it flew towards another marine taking cover behind one of the rock pillars. The Drone screeched loudly as it was hit and fell to the ground, scraping across it until a small boulder brought it to a halt. Suddenly, a barrage of green blasts flew at Eve and the marines. The two marines ran right towards one of the rock pillars. Eve dived to the ground near the edge of the raise section of the ground. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at a Drone as it clung itself to the wall. The bullets hit the creature in the face and easily broke through the armour around It's chest. The Drone screeched loudly and fell to the ground, dead.

Another barrage of green blasts flew at Eve. She saw them coming and ran over towards a nearby boulder. Most of them, however, managed to hit her. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist, showing the level in the bar at the red zone. Eve dived behind the boulder. She breathed a sigh of relief as she rested against it. That was lucky. A swarm of Drones, especially one with more than twenty was, more than dangerous. She was lucky enough not to be killed.

The level in the holographic meter rose up to the top of the bar, turning from red to yellow to green. When it hit the top of the bar, the holographic meter disappeared.

"Eve!" a marine hiding behind a rock pillar nearby shouted, causing her to look over at him. "There's a turret over here! I'll cover you!"

The marine stood out from behind the rock pillar and fired a barrage of bullets at the Drones. The other three marines on the other side of the cave did the same. The cave was filled with loud screeches as Drone after Drone was hit and fell to the ground, dead.

Eve ran out from behind the boulder towards the rock pillar. The marine that shouted over to her fired another burst of ammo at the Drones before hiding behind the rock pillar again, narrowly missing another set of blasts. Eve dived the last few feet to the rock pillar. The marine helped her up.

"Thanks," Eve said. "Where the turret?" she asked the marine.

"Over there," the marine answered, pointing over to a deployable turret perched on a small chunk of rock that came off the side of the rock pillar.

Eve ran over to the turret and knelt down behind it. She rested a hand on the weapon's trigger and pressed down. A barrage of bullets flew out of the turret at the Drones. Before they could react, they were quickly cut down one by one. The Drones fired back but most of the blasts either hit the turret or the ground it was perched on.

Suddenly, one of the Drones dived towards Eve. Eve saw the threat coming towards her but before she could react, the Drone swung It's clawed fists at her. One hit Eve in the chest, the other hit her in the side. Eve flew through the air and landed painfully on the ground a few feet behind where she had been kneeling. The Drone then grabbed hold of the turret and with one powerful yank it tore the main section of the weapon off the stand it was on and threw it to the ground. Eve groaned as she lifted herself up from the ground. Big mistake. Her groan attracted the attention of the Drone. The creature jumped over to her and clutched a hand with one of It's hands. The Drone placed It's clawed feet over her hands. Eve gasped for breath, only making the Drone clutch down tighter.

"GET OFF HER!" the marine that was standing behind the rock pillar yelled, raising his weapon.

The marine went to fire his weapon but another Drone grabbed hold of him from behind and drove It's claws deep into him. It was a good thing Eve could not see what was going on. The Drone jumped off the marine after a few seconds and flew to join the rest of the swarm in attacking the other three marines. It's hand was covered in blood.

It looked as though it was over for Eve. The marine that was with her was dead and the other three could not help her because of the other Drones. It looked like it really was over for her.

The Drone pinning her down raised It's other clawed hand. Eve went wide-eyed through whatever little vision she had left. It was going to slash her face but she could not do anything about it! Eve closed her eyes and waited for the pain to be inflicted upon her.

BANG! A loud burst of ammo exploded in the cave, followed by a loud screech. Eve, suddenly, felt the loss for breath go like the wind. She could move her hands. Eve slowly opened her eyes and saw the Drone was gone. The sound of marching feet filled the cave.

"Everyone alright?" a man's vice shouted.

Eve lifted herself up from the ground, picking up her weapon which the Drone had knock out of her hand when it pinned her to the ground, to see the door into the cave wide open and three marines firing on the last few Drones which fled into the ventilation system. One of them saw Eve and ran over to her.

"You okay Eve?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Eve replied. "Looks like you got here just in time,"

"Yeah," the marine replied. "John's waiting for you upstairs."

Eve nodded and ran past the marine and down the metal staircase towards the cave door. When she reached it, the ran down the corridor and turned left, passing another two marines who had set up another deployable machine gun, and ran up the staircase.

"If I try hook up a timer, it might just go off itself," a voice said, which Eve instantly recognized as John's.

"I hope your not willing to try and do a last stand motion," came Mary's voice.

Mary was still here. She would have evacuated by now, and what were she and John talking about?As Eve reached the top of the staircase, she saw Mary on the large computer screen. Oh she had evacuated. She was sending a transmission like lord Hood and Truth had done earlier. The Arbiter was nowhere to be seen.

_"Oh, Eve," _Mary said, looking at her. _"It's good to see you. Nice work in clearing out the hanger,"_

"Thanks," Eve replied.

Then, her eyes rested on a huge silver object that was placed on the floor next to John. It was about twelve feet long and almost eight feet tall. The object had a large oval-like middle shape with two huge square ends with small girder lines going from one diagonal corner to the one opposite them. On the side of the object, that was facing the computer screen, was a small control panel. A few small square shaped devices were scattered across the top of the object. Coming out of them were a few small wires that led to separate computers on the nearby crates and control panels. A few marines were still working on them.

_"It's a little going away gift for the Covenant," _Mary explained to Eve. _"We've linked it to smaller charges throughout the base so when it goes off, any Covenant in the base will be obliterated along with it. John, as soon as the evacuation is complete, start the timer,"_

"Understood," John replied.

_"Good luck everyone," _Mary said. _"See you on the last pelican out," _The computer screen turned off.

"This way, Eve," John said.

John ran towards the back of the room where the raised section of the floor was; Eve followed. They came to a halt outside the door on the back wall.

"We've got a problem, Eve," John said. "The Brutes have taken the barracks. There's marines trapped inside,"

Eve went wide eyed when John told her this. She was worried for them because even though she had never been taken prisoner and neither had John, they both knew what the Covenant, especially Brutes, did to prisoners.

"We need you to get there and free them and then escort them to the landing pad we arrived in earlier on," John went on. "Do whatever you can, Eve,"

Eve nodded. John pressed a button on the wall next to the door, causing it to open. A long, dimly lit corridor led to another door about forty feet away. Eve walked through the doorway into the corridor.

"Good luck, Eve," John said to her before closing the door.

Good luck. That was something that had only saved Eve but not anyone else she had known. As far as she was concerned, luck only saved those it was attached to. Eve walked down the corridor towards the end. A feeling of guilt swept over her. Just moments ago, she just wanted to leave and help those who had already managed to escape the base. Now there were marines in the barracks, trapped by the Brutes. Who knows what must be going on there right now. She had to save them! Too many other marines had been wounded or killed because she had not been here to help, well this time she was going to stay and help everyone, even if they were trapped in a place that was crawling with Brutes.

The door at the end of the corridor opened as Eve approached it. She walked through into a large room with two pathways attached to the walls going all the way to the other end of the room. The floor of the room descended about ten feet like a ramp before it rose up, again by about another ten feet, to a raised section of floor at the other end of the room. About half-way down the pathways, directly below them, were two large walls with a gap large enough for a warthog to fit into. Next to it was another gap that went down at a twenty degree angle towards a large door on the wall. A small truck had been turned on It's side near the right gap below the pathway. A large blast door was on the back wall. A smaller door was on the right wall near the corner onto the back wall.

As Eve walked into the room, her eyes rested on several large shapes near where the floor on the other side of the room was level with the floor she was standing on. There was about five of them. Brutes. Two of them were wearing teal green armour and were armed with spikers. Another two was wearing dark blue armour that covered It's chest, stomach, knees, arms, legs and a small helmet that covered the head, leaving the face exposed. they too was holding a spiker. The last Brute was wearing red/black armour on his knees, chest, stomach, back and had a large red/black crown that looked like the face of a creature, apart from having a 'mouth'. In It's hands was the one weapon Eve really hated. The gravity hammer.

Eve quickly ran forward and ran into the gap that led to the door. A large crate was placed about five feet in front of the door. Eve ran behind it and breathed in, hoping that the Brutes had and could not hear her.

"This base will soon be ours," Eve heard one of the Brutes say.

"I could care less for this cesspool," another Brute replied. "All I care about is becoming a God in the Great Journey!"

"We all do," another Brute piped up. "Our holy prophet Truth will guide us to the divine bey-wait a moment,"

Eve heard the Brute sniff loudly, which sounded like a hover being turned on. The Brute growled.

"A fresh scent!" the Brute growled.

"I smell it too!" another Brute said. "It must be close! Track it down!"

Eve went wide-eyed with panic. The Brutes had smelt her and were now going to start looking for her! Surely they would search where she was hiding. She had to find somewhere else to hide or she was as good as dead. Eve frantically looked around her, hoping to find a place to hide. She found it.

On the wall leading into the small gap below the pathway was a small hole. Eve could see a few racks of working equipment placed along the far wall of the gap. It may not be the best place but it was most likely going to be a better place for her to hide.

Eve ran out from behind the rock towards the hole. When she reached it, she pulled herself up through it into the gap and crawled over to the far wall and crouched next to one of the racks. She was only just in time. Not even a second passed before two of the Brutes ran past the entrance to the gap, their weapons raised. Eve breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She had evaded them for now, but it was obvious she was going to have to kill them to get through here.

Eve slowly stood up and raised her battle rifle. She had to be ready to fight off the Brutes if they saw her. She slowly, cautiously, stepped towards the entrance to the gap, bringing her closer to the Brutes. Eve's heart pounded like mad against her chest. If she was seen by them, she was dead.

"Have you found anything?" one of the Brutes that had ran past asked.

"Nothing," the other Brute answered.

"Keep looking!" a voice barked from the direction of where the squad had been standing. "We must find the intruder and kill it!"

After a few seconds, Eve reached the gap entrance. She looked back in the direction of the door to the command centre. One of the Brutes was searching behind the truck. She could not see the other one though! That was not good. He could be walking up towards her or walking up to the small side hole that led into the gap. It was now or never. She had to get out of her-

"DEMON!"

The next thing Eve knew, a barrage of orange spikes were flying towards her. Eve dived backwards into the gap, narrowly missing the spikes as they hit the wall. Eve stood up and hid behind one of the racks. This was not going to protect her but it was better than completely exposing herself and end up getting killed.

A large figure appeared in the gap's entrance. It was one of the Brutes. The creature raised his spiker, aiming at Eve. However, she was too quick for him. Eve fired a burst of ammo out from behind the rack at the Brute. The bullets easily broke through the armour on the creature's chest and embedded themselves in his side. The Brute roared with pain and grabbed his side with both hands, dropping his weapon. Purple blood began to seep out through the gaps between his fingers. Eve fired another burst of ammo at the creature. It hit him in the head, killing him.

A second later, another Brute appeared in the gap entrance. Only this time, it was the Brute with the gravity hammer.

"You shall pay for your insolence, demon!" the alien growled at her.

The Brute charged towards Eve. Eve screamed and dived towards the hole and pulled herself through it. Behind her, the air seemed to explode in a crackle of electricity as the brute swung his gravity hammer at her. The Brute growled at missing her. Eve quickly crawled away from the hole behind the large crate, breathing a sigh of relief. That was close. She almost been killed.

"Get around that crate and kill her!" Eve heard the Brute in the gap shout.

Eve's eyes went wide once again. She had not seen the other Brute that had ran past the gap to find her. He, probably along with the other Brutes, was most likely running towards her now. If all of them were coming, they were going to trap her by coming around both sides of the crate. There was only one place Eve could hide now.

The other Brute wearing teal green armour and one of the Brutes wearing dark blue armour charged out from behind the sides of the crates, their weapons raised ready to fire on Ev-huh? Where in Forerunner's name was she? "Where is she?" the teal green armoured Brute asked, aiming his weapon around as if it were some type of radar.

He got his answer when a burst of ammo exploded in the room. The Brute roared loudly before he fell backwards onto the floor, dead. The other Brute looked up, only to be met with the butt of Eve's rifle. The Brute roared in pain as he was hit smack right in the face. A burst of ammo followed. The bullets broke through the Brute's armour and hit him in the chest and stomach, killing him.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she jumped down from the top of the crate. She had managed to lift herself up onto it at the last moment. That was two more Brutes dead. Just two more to g-

CRASH! The crate was suddenly smashed apart as the air seemed to explode around it. Huge chunks were sent flying in every direction. Before Eve could react, a large chunk hit her in the back of the head, sending her to the floor. Eve groaned as she placed a hand on the back of her head and tried to lift herself up from the floor.

A deep laugh caught her attention. It was coming from behind. Eve turned over and saw the Brute with the gravity hammer standing there, a menacing look of evil stretched across It's face.

"It is time for you to die, demon!" the Brute laughed.

The Brute, suddenly, jumped towards Eve, bringing the gravity hammer back as if it were preparing to swing a baseball bat. Eve dived away from the creature, almost hitting her head on the side wall but at least she escape another swipe of the gravity hammer as it hit where she had just been sitting. Eve scrambled to her feet and sprinted out from the large gap into the pathway that led to the back of the room. She skidded to a halt. The other Brute wearing dark blue armour was standing head of her.

"See how long you will last with this, demon!" the creature said to her.

Before Eve could blink, the Brute threw something at her. It landed on the floor in front of her. It was a ball shaped device about the size of Eve's head. It had a glowing light blue mark on the front of it, that looked like the eye of some creature, in the middle of a diamond shaped engraved mark that was also glowing blue.

Eve scoffed at the object as it just sat there.

"Is that it?" she asked the Brute sarcastically.

She should not have said that.

All of a sudden, the ball seemed to explode. A crackle of electricity shot out in every direction from the device. A light blue haze spread out and filled the air around it. A charging sound followed, making it sound like as if the device was suddenly going to explode.

Eve gasped. Not at what the device was doing, but at what it was doing to her. As soon as the object sprang to life, her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was going down rapidly! It was draining her suit's shield!

"Even your suit cannot withstand the effectiveness of a power drain!" the Brute wearing dark blue armour said, smiling evilly at her.

"You can also be thankful this will be a quick death!" another dark voice from behind her shouted.

Eve knew what was coming and, instantly, dived sideway backwards away from the power drain. The air exploded behind her before even a second had passed. A loud roar filled the room once again. Eve quickly shot up from the floor. The Brute with the gravity hammer was standing where she had just been. The other Brute had a hand placed over It's face and was cursing loudly. The Brute holding the gravity hammer growled.

"What will it take to kill you?" he shouted, wheeling round to face Eve.

However, before the Brute could charge towards Eve with his deadly weapon, the other Bute growled and, blinded by so much anger, threw something else at Eve. Eve saw the object coming but it was not another power drain or a plasma grenade. It was a spherical object with three legs sticking out of the bottom The object landed on the floor next to Eve. Immediately, it sprang to life.

"NO!" the Brute with the gravity hammer yelled. "THAT WAS THE WRONG POWER, YOU FOOL!"

A green haze spread out from the object. Eve felt this charging sensation run through her. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. Eve watched in amazement as the level in the bar suddenly shot up to the top. Wow! This object was useful.

Suddenly, a large figure caught Eve's attention. The Brute with the gravity hammer charged towards her. Eve raised her battle rifle but it felt lighter. It was then she discovered that she was holding only the front half of her weapon, or what had been her weapon. When the Brute was a few feet from her, it swung It's gravity hammer at Eve. Eve dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the blast radius of the weapon. Eve quickly got up just in time to see the Brute swing the weapon at her again. However, Eve did not run or dive out of the way. She felt something in her arms grow stronger as if it were telling her _you can stop it_. _You do not need to run_.

As the weapon was just inches from her, Eve ducked and swung her fists up at the brute, hitting him in the jaw. In fact, the blow was so powerful that not only did she cause the gravity hammer to go flying through the air and get stuck in the wall next to her by the metal piece, but she also lifted the Brute several feet into the air before it landed on the floor about a metre away. Eve then grabbed the gravity hammer and easily pulled it out. It felt lighter. Maybe this object was also granting anyone within It's radius some kind of superhuman-like strength. Eve then swung the weapon at the Brute as he was standing up from the floor. The creature roared loudly as he was thrown against the blast door in the other gap opposite Eve. He hit the door and slid down onto the ground, dead.

The last Brute growled as it fell over, It's hand, now almost completely purple, onto the floor in a pool of It's own blood. The brute carried on groaning and growling before it went quiet and lay still. Eve dropped the gravity hammer on the floor and ran over to the body of the first Brute she had killed. She picked up his spiker and ran up the pathway past the body of the Brute, trying her best not to look at it. Eve ran to the end of the room and turned right towards the doorway.

When Eve ran through the doorway, she found herself in a long corridor with grey concrete walls and a few wires going along the side of the walls near the ceiling. Eve looked left and saw a dead end. She looked right but that was no better. The corridor was blocked with fallen concrete from the walls and the ceiling. A dead marine lay on the floor in front of it, most likely having been killed by the corridor's collapse. Damn! So which way was she to go now? There was no other way to get to the bara-Wait a minute.

Eve took a closer look down the corridor and saw something… odd about the floor. She ran down the corridor towards the wall of rubble. As she got closer, she saw the reason whay the floor looked a bit odd. It had a hole inside it. Eve stopped next to the hole and peered in. The hole led down to a metal floor about twenty feet away. Whatever it was thst came through the floor, it must have been powerful because the concrete as well as the steel reinforced girders as been riped apart and bent as if they were plastic. There was no time to worry about that now. There were marines that needed saving.

Eve breathed in and jumped. For a few seconds, she fell through the air. Earth's gravity was pulling her closer to the metal floor. She just hoped that she would not end up breaking a leg or foot when she landed.

Eve's feet thudded loudly as they hit the metal floor. A jolting sensation ran up through her body. Eve opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Other than a quick sharp pain that cma before the jolting sensation, she was okay. Eve looked up and saw she was in some kind of lmetal corridor with large circular holes along the walls. At the end, the wall seemed to stretch out further than where the floor ended. Probably another hole leading down to another corridor or metal floor. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end.

Suddenly, she skidded to a halt. She kept as quiet as a mouse and listened carefully like a antelope being aware of a nearby predator. Some kind of droning noise was coming from somewhere. Eve raised her spiker and placed her finger on the trigger. If whatever was making the droning noise came out and attacked her, she would be ready to kill it.

"AHHHH!"

Eve fell to the floor as a large gren insect suddenly shot out from one of the holes and flew into the her and pinned her to the floor. Eve looked up and saw that the insect was a Drone. The creature's large yellow eyes narrowed as they looked down on Eve. Eve grabbed the creatures arms to sop the creature from flying away and brought both of her feet in. She kicked the Drone in the stomach. The creature screeched loudly as it flew through the air and landed on the right wall of the corridor. Eve quickly raised her spiker and fired a few spikes at the creature. The Drone let out another screech before it fell to the floor and lay still.

Eve picked herself up from the floor, her weapon at the ready in case another Drone came out of the holes. Eventually, another did a few seconds later. Luckily, Eve managed to take care of this one as well. She then ran to the end of the corridor, stopping at the edge of the floor. It stopped at a side entrance to another hole. Eve peered into the hole and saw another opening on the opposite wall at the bottom of the hole about fifteen feet away.

"You are fools for trusting the prophet!" a deep voice shouted, followed by a burst of plasma fire.

That voice sounded familiar. The Arbiter! He was down there, and by the sound of it, he was in trouble. She had to get down there and help him.

Eve jumped off the floor into the hole. She was not woried about this one as it was shorter than the last hole. Eve's feet pounded loudly as they hit the metal floor. The opening on the opposite wall was directly in front of her. Eve could see a large platform with a concrete floor in a large dug out cave with the side of a building sticking out from the left rock wall of the cave. A large pool of water was separating the platform the Arbiter was on and another platform about fifty feet away. On the other platform was the end of the large building and a few metres from that was a large red tower-like building that was about thirty feet tall and went up to another platform that was not far from a large entrance at the top of the cave that led back outside.

Standing on the platform was the Arbiter. He was holding two plasma rifles. He fired another burst of ammo at a group of three Drones as they flew about in the air above him.

"You are half-wit insects!" he was shouting. "The prophet will use you like they use me! Reject their lies or _all _your hives will perish!"

The Drones responded by screeching loudly and firing a few blasts from their plasma pistols down at the Elite, causing his shield to light up. The Arbiter growled and fired a burst of plasma fire from both plasma rifles up at the Drones. Two of them were hit and screeched loudly as they fell to the floor, dead.

The Arbiter went to fire on the last Drone when a wave of orange spikes flew at the creature. They hit the Drone in the chest and head and it fell to the floor, dead. The Arbiter turned and saw Eve jumped down from the opening in the wall onto the floor.

"Thought you might need some help," Eve said to the Elite.

The Arbiter nodded.

"They have taken your soldiers," he explained to Eve as he walked up to her. "As prisoners or meat for their bellies, I do not know. Some of them may still be alive but we must be quick if we are to save them,"

Eve nodded.

"Where's the way into the barracks?" she asked.

The Arbiter answered by pointing over to the wall of the building that was on the platform. A small button was on the wall next to the door. Eve ran over to the door and pressed the button, causing it to open. The Arbiter followed Eve as they ran through the doorway into a large room with bare concrete walls. The room continued on right. Two small walkways were built onto the sides of the wall. A ladder was connected to the end of the pathway. Along the walls below the pathways were several lockers and racks with weapons. They were in the barracks

As Eve and the Arbiter walked into the room, they saw the bodies of dead marines lined up against the walls. Above some of them on the wall were large spots of blood. It was obvious the Brutes were slaughtering every marine in here, even is they had surrendered.

Eve felt horrible. She should have been here to save them. There was no way thatall the marines here could have defeated the Brutes alone. Guilt filled her again. Sometimes, she just wondered was she helping the UNSC in saving lives? Was she really saving her own life rather than others?

The Arbiter sensed what Eve was thinking. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Evelyn," he said to her. "These warriors may have been slaughtered mercilessly and needed help, but you were needed elsewhere. But I do see how close you soldiers can come to bond with one another like brothers. I have the same type of bond with others of my kind,"

Eve went to reply when…

"NOO-AAAHHHH!"

THUD! Eve and the Arbiter looked ahead. The body of another UNSC marine was now up against the wall. Blood poured from his nose, which now looked as though it had been smashed. A loud growl from around the corner filled the room, folowed by a shout.

"C'mon," Eve said to the Arbiter.

The two ran around the corner into a long wide section of the barracks that had both walkways continue on and then turn left into another long section of the barracks. Along the walls under both walkways were more lockers and weapons racks and more dead UNSC marines. In the middle of the floor at the end of the long corridor section was a stone pillar that rose up from the floor to the ceiling.

"NOO! PLEASE!" a voice from the end of the corridor shouted.

Eve and the Arbiter looked towards the end and saw a large figure wearing teal green armour standing there. It was a Brute. He had a plasma rifle attached to a belt around his waist. In his hand was something that he was holding above the floor. It was a marine! The Brute was holding him like a rag doll.

"HA!" the Brute said, laughing. "I am not very keen on mercy, you whelp!"

The Brute rose his hand higher until the struggling marine was high above his head. He then grabbed hold of the marine's feet and moved him sideways so the marine's head was now facing down towards the Brute. By the looks of it, the Brute was going to break the marine's spine!

"Evelyn," the Arbiter said. "We must be quick but also qui-"

The Arbiter was cut off when he noticed Eve charging towards the Brute. When she was a few feet behind the creature, just as he was about to bring the marine down onto his armoured knee, Eve swung her spiker at the creature. The Brute roared in pain as the spiker hit his back. A loud crack followed and the creature fell to the floor, dead. The marine fell to the floor. He groaned as he lifted his head up from the floor.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked him, kneeling down beside him.

"Yeah, thanks," the marine replied.

Eve helped the marine to his feet. The marine grabbed the plasma rifle on the brute's belt and pulled it off.

"What happened?" the Arbiter asked as he reached the two.

"They ambushed us," the marine replied. "They came in from both entrances. We were cut down and… everyone was killed. They've got more prisoners up ahead."

"Then we have to hurry and free them," Eve piped up.

She ran left down the next long corridor section, which had another stone pillar ascending from the floor to the ceiling about half-way down the corridor. Several smaller walkways connected the two main ones going along both walls. At the end of the corridor was a rasied section of concrete floor with a stone wall across it. In the middle of the wall was a doorway. Eve could only see white coloured walls in the room on the other side.

When Eve was about half-way down the corridor, a large figure ran out from the small room at the end. It was another Brute, only this time it was wearing a golden coloured armour that covered almost all of It's body. On the creature's head was a large golden helmet with two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides. In his arms, placed on his shoulder, was an enormous weapon Eve had seen before. It was a large gold weapon with a circular trigger on the bottom of the weapon near the front. On the back of the weapon were several large silos that were a light green colour. It was a fuel rod cannon.

The Brute roared at Eve as he emerged from the room.

"You will die with your comrades, demon!" the Brute shouted at her.

A large green blast flew out of the fuel rod cannon towards Eve. She dived right past the stone pillar, narrowly getting out of the blast radius as the blast exploded on the floor. The Brute aimed the weapon at Eve again, which he knew would be hit as she had to get up from the floor. He placed his hands on the trigger and went to push down.

Suddenly, a barrage of plasma blasts flew at the Brute. They hit his armour, causing it to light up. The Brute growled and aimed his weapon down the corridor at the Arbiter and the marine. He fired another shot at them. Thankfully both dived out of the way as the blast hit the floor and exploded, lighting up the entire corridor. The Brute laughed at his two enemies.

"You are a bigger coward than I thought you were, Arbiter!" he shouted as he loaded another silo into the cannon.

The Brute went to turn his weapon back towards Eve. Suddenly, he was struck in the face with the butt of a spiker. The Brute roared in pain and fell backwards onto the floor, dropping his weapon and placing a hand over his face where the spiker hit him. Standing over him was Eve. The Brute moved his hand and, before Eve could react, swung his foot over the floor and hit Eve's leg. Eve fell to the floor, landing painfully on her arm. The Brute laughed as it stood up. Eve raised her spiker but the Brute kicked the weapon out of her hand. Eve went to move away but the Brute stopped her by placing a foot on her chest.

"You will pay for that, demon!" the Brute growled at her.

The Brute raised It's other foot over Eve's head. It was going to crush her! She was doomed!Suddenly, another barrage of blasts flew at the Brute. They hit his armour and easily penetrated it. Puprle blood flowed from the wounds. The Brute roared in pain and fell backwards onto the floor, where it went quiet and lay still.

The Arbiter ran over to Eve and helped her up whilst the marine ran past them into the room.

"Thanks," Eve said to the Arbiter.

"Thanks, man," a voice from the room on the other side of the doorway said.

The marine emerged from the room, only this time he had two other marines with him. Both were holding MA5B assault rifles.

"It's pay back time," one of them said as he placed a clip into his assault rifle.

"We need to rescue anyone else," Eve said to the two marines that emerged from the room. "Then we need to find a way of getting out of here,"

"THERE THEY ARE!" a deep voice yelled.

The squad dived for cover as a barrage of blasts flew at the squad. The marines hid behind the left wall near the corner into the next corridor section of the barracks whilst Eve, who had grabbed her weapon the Brute knocked out of her hand, and the Arbiter hid behind the right wall near the corner that led into the next corridor section. Eve peeked her head out from behind the wall. Down the corridor, which was also covered with smaller pathways going across to and from the main ones and had many lockers and weapons racks and even a few bunk beds underneath the walkways and more dead UNSC soldiers, were three Brutes wearing teal green armour. The end of the corridor turned diagonally left upwards. Hopefully to the way out of the barracks.

"Kill them!" one of the Brutes shouted as it fired a wave of orange spikes down the corridor at Eve and the Arbiter, which hit the wall just inches from them.

"Is that the way out of the barracks?" Eve shouted to the marines.

"Yeah," one of the marines shouted back as he fired a burst of ammo down the corridor at the Brutes. A roar erupted down the corridor. "After that, there's an elevator that'll lead up to the landing pad,"

"We must hurry," the Arbiter said to Eve. "The Brutes will have more troops converging on this base very soon."

"Probalem is; how the hell do we through these guys?" Eve asked the Elite as she fired a few spikes down the corridor at the Brutes, causing another roar to fill the corridor.

She was right. How were they to get past them? The Arbiter was right as well. The Brutes would, no doubt, have more troops heading towards the base right now. If they were still here when they arrived well then they could say their prayers.

Then, Eve saw one of the Brutes take out something from the back of It's belt around It's waist. The Brute pressed down on whatever was in It's hand. The object lit up a bright blue flame colour. It was a plasma grenade. The Brute threw the device down the corridor toards the group. It was head straight for the marines, who had not seen it coming.

Eve ran out from behind the wall and swung her spiker at the grenade. The plasma grenade flew back towards the Brutes, one of who immediately yelled something to his comrades. The plasma grenade landed on the chest armour of one of the Brutes. The creature roared in panic and grabbed the grenade to pull it off him.

BOOM! The grenade exploded. A loud chorus or roars filled the air. Eve, the Arbiter and the marines looked down the corridor and saw all three of the Brutes lying dead on the floor. Now they could get out of the barracks, if they way up ahead led out of it of course.

Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. The Arbiter and the marines followed. When they reached the end, they ran down a short corridor that led to a steel door with a button on the wall next to it. One of the marines ran over to the button and pressed it. The door swung open, revealing the tother platform and the large red tower that led up to the top of the cave.

The marines ran onto the platform; the Arbiter followed. However, he stopped and looked over his shoulder to notice Eve looking back at the barracks, staying silent as if she were in a kind of trance. The bodies of the marines. She was still feeling guilty for them. The Arbiter walked over to Eve.

"Evelyn," he said. "We have done all we could. We must get these men out of here before more Brutes arrive,"

Eve looked on at the barracks for a few more seconds before she turned and walked past the Arbiter out of the barracks; the Arbiter followed. As the two walked out of the barracks, they saw that the marines had opened a small square shaped door on the side of the tower. Behind it was a small metal floor. On the wall inside the tower was a small button.

"This elevator will take us up to the landing pad," one of the marines said to the two as they walked over to them.

The marines ran into the tower. Eve and the Arbiter followed them. When everyone was on the elevator, one of the marines pressed the button on the wall. A large door lowered down over the hole. The floor jolted slightly before rising through the tower. As the elevator got closer to the top of the tower, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

_"Commander," _came John's voice. _"I've got bad news,"_

_"What is it?" _came Mary's voice, which was slightly muffled because of some noises in the background, which sounded like pelicans.

_"We lost the command centre," _John explained. _"The Brutes attacked in force. We couldn't hold 'em off," _

_"What should I do, ma'am?" _came another woman's voice.

_"Hold position!" _Mary ordered. _"I'm not leaving without him!"_

A few moments later, the elevator jolted again. A door on the opposite end of the elevator rose, leaving another large square shaped hole. The squad were revealed with a small platform that led to a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, the squad could see a large platform with what looked like sunlight shining down upon it.

"There's the landing pad," one of the marines said. "Let's hope there's a pelican there waiting for us,"

The squad ran down the tunnel towards the landing pad. When theyr eached it, Eve and the Arbiter found themselves back on the landing pad their pelican landed on when they arrived at the base. Eve looked up through the gap that led outside. They had made it.

A large shape flew over the hole and stopped. It was a pelican. The craft descended into the gap that was just wide enough for the craft to fit into. The door to the resting area of the pelican opened up when the craft was about ten feet above the landing pad. A marine walked over to the edge of the resting area, ready to help everyone onto the pelican.

_"Ma'am," _came the pilot's voice, which was the woman Mary was speaking to just moments ago, as the pelican stopped above the platform. _"I've got movement. Above and below,"_

As soon as the woman finished speaking, a large figure suddenly flew up from underneath the landing pad. It was a Brute wearing light blue armour. However, this one had a large square shaped bject with two huge spire shaped silos sticking out of the bottom placed on It's back. The Brute raised his weapon and fired a burst of light blue blasts at the marines. The squad dived for cover.

_"Brutes!" _the pilot exclaimed. _"They got jump packs!" _

"_They're going after the thrusters!" _came Mary's voice._ "Shake them off!" _

_"Roger that," _came the pilot's voice._ "I'm gonna have to take off guys. Get rid of those Brutes,"_

The pelican rose into the air towards the gap that led into the cave. The first Brute with the jump pack fired on the craft. The marine in the resting area grabbed his weapon and fired down at the Brute. The bullets broke through the creature's armour and embedded themselves in his chest, killing him.

"Is that the last of them?" one of the marines asked as he stood up from behind a nearby crate.

He got his answer when another Brute shot up from under the landing pad, only this time he was not alone. Two more quickly followed. The first of the three Brutes shouted something at the squad and a barrage of blasts at the marines. One of them hit a marine in the shoulder. The marine yelled in pain and fell backwards onto the floor. His two buddies pulled him behind a nearby crate to shield him from any other blasts.

Eve, who had taken cover behind an overturned gurney next to another crate, stood up and fired a burst of ammo at one of the Brutes as it jumped over the Arbiter, who was hiding behind a large weapons crate. The bullets hit one of the silos. The Brute screamed as he suddenly flew off into the air. His screams stopped abruptly as he hit the bottom of the building that was attached to the side of the cave's wall above the landing pad.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, DEMON!" one of the other Brutes roared.

The Brute activated his jump pack and hovered over the platform towards Eve. She saw him coming and fire another burst of ammo at the Brute. Some of the bullets missed their target. Those that did hit the Brute only dented his armour. The Brute responded by firing a few blasts at Eve. Some hit her suit, causing her shield to light up. Eve dived to the floor, narrowly avoiding another set of blasts that whizzed over her head and hit the floor.

Just as Eve lifted her head up from the floor, a large hand grabbed her and threw her over the gurney onto the floor. Eve groaned as she sat up. She placed a hand on her head, which had hit the side of the gurney when she was thrown through the air. Suddenly, a large hand flew towards her. Agony and pain flared up Eve's stomach as she was hit. The wind was knocked out of her. Eve flew back onto the floor. The Brute stood over her and grabbed her by the neck and held her above the floor. Eve gasped for breath, only to make the Brute clutch down harder. The Brute laughed at her.

"You will not stop our Great Journey, demon!" he said to her. "Neither will your troops or the Arbiter, no matter how bravely they fight!"

Eve's vision was fading fast. She could barely see anything. It was over for her. All the fighting she had donw had been for nothing.

"ROOOOAAARR!"

Eve was suddenly dropped back onto the floor of the landing pad once again. She gasped for breath and massaged her nexk with one hand as she looked up. The Brute that had thrown her her over the gurney was lying dead on the floor. The Arbiter ran over to her and held out a hand to Eve.

"Thanks, Arbiter," Eve said as he helped her up.

A large shadow spread over the surface of the landing pad. Eve and the Arbiter looked up and saw the pelican descending back towards the landing pad. When it was about ten feet above the landing pad, the resting area's door opened up. The three marines ran over to the pelican and climbed onboard. Eve and the Arbiter ran over to the pelican and were about to climb onboard when…

"AHHH! HELP!"

Eve and the Arbiter shot round to see a group of marines run out from one of the corner tunnels towards the pelican. Following behind was John, who was armed with a battle rifle. Behind him were a group of Drones, who quickly shot out of the tunnel and began firing on John and the marines.

"Drones!" John exclaimed, skidding to a halt and turning round. "You guys go on! I'll cover you!" he shouted to the marines.

John raised his battle rifle and fired at the Drones. One was hit and screeched loudly as it fell past the landing pad. A loud splash followed a second later. Another Drone dived down towards John but he swung his fist at the creature and sent that one crashing to the floor head first, killing it. John fired again at the last few Drones, hitting and killing them.

With the Drones dead, he and the marines were safe, for now at least. John turned and ran onto the landing pad. The other marines had already boarded the pelican. John skidded to a halt next to the craft, breathing heavily from running.

"Brutes…" he managed to say. He took a deep breath. "In the command centre… They disarmed the bomb. Sorry, commander, there were too many. Even for me,"

_"Damn!" _came Mary's voice, which Eve heard through her ear radio. _"We'll have to leave. We can't go back now," _

John sighed and climbed onto the pelican. The Arbiter walked past Eve and climbed on as well. Eve, however, stayed where she was. The Brutes had disarmed the bomb. If that bomb did not go off, then nothing would slow down the Covenant advance. Everything the marines would have fought to defend had been lost. All those killed here had died for nothing.

No! That was not going to happen. A lot had been sacrificed to set that bomb to blow up the base and it was _not _going to be in vain.

"Are you coming, Eve?" John asked as he held out a hand to help her on the pelican.

Eve shook her head. "No," she replied. "I'm going to stay behind and rearm the bomb,"

John went wide-eyed. The Arbiter and the marines in the resting area looked at her, also with wide eyes. She was staying behind? She was crazy, suicidal even!

"Eve!" John whispered. "Your crazy!"

"If Auto was here, he would tell me that I'm suicidal," Eve replied. "No, you guys go on. I'll find another way out of here when I've rearmed the bomb,"

Eve went to run towards the tunnel John and the marines came out of but John stopped her.

"Eve," he called, stopping her and drawing her gaze. "Good luck,"Eve nodded and ran on towards the tunnel. Behind her, the pelican ascended through the gap into the air. The craft flew off into the sky and out of sight.

Eve ran into the tunnel and down the metal corridor. As she passed where the wounded marines had been sitting earlier on when she arrived, she saw a few blood stains on the walls and the floor, along with a few blood stained bandages and empty syringes and boxes that had contained medical equipment.

As Eve ran through the doorway that led to the flight of stairs, a loud deep voice stopped her. It was no doubt going to be a Brute; but was he alone? Eve crept over to the stairs and listened. She could hear another voice. It sounded hoarse.

Truth!

"We have taken their command centre," came the Brute's voice. "We have also stopped their attempt to destroy this base,"

Eve silently crept up the stairs towards the command centre. As she neared the top, she could see the large computer screen was on, only this time Truth was sitting on his hover chair in the screen. Standing in front of the screen was a Brute wearing gold armour with a gold helmet and two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides. A few feet behind him was the bomb.

_"Have you discovered how they plan to stop me?" _Truth asked.

"No-… Not just yet, Noble Prophet," the Brute replied nervously.

_"Find out what I need to know!" _Truth ordered in a sten voice. _"Or your place in the Great Journey is forfeit! Tell me you understand!" _Truth added a dangerous sounding tone on the last four words.

"Y… yes, Holy One," the Brute replied, again with an easily noticeable nervous voice. "It shall be done,"

As soon as the Brute finished speaking, Eve saw the computer screen turn off. The Brute turned so he was facing towards the right wall of the room.

"Alert the Drones!" he ordered to an unseen figure. "Have them scour these machines! Find out what these _heathens_ know about the Ark!"

A small high pitched squeak filled the air. Definitely a Grunt. The shadow of another large figure moved over Eve. She looked up and saw the top of a dark blue helmet disappear behind the side of the floor. So there were three Covenant in the command centre so far. Were there any more?

Eve quickly glanced around to make sure there were no other Covenant standing at the top of the floor above the stairwell entrance. She slowly lifted her head up from the stairs to see the Brute with golden armour walking over to the control panel on the bomb. Eve's eyes went wide. By the looks of it, the Brute was going to try and disable the bomb! She had to stop him.

As Eve went to sit up to get a better view, the end of her spiker tapped loudly as it hit one of the stairs.

The Brute standing next to the bomb suddenly jolted as if he were had become aware of something. Eve went wide-eyed and ducked down behind the stairs. Hopefully, that was the only Covenant soldier that had heard the noise. Let's just also hope he was not going to walk over to try and find the source of the noise-

"AHHHH!"

Eve was pushed against the wall of the stairs as a large figure landed next to her. Eve looked up and saw it was the Brute wearing the dark blue helmet. In his hand was a plasma rifle.

"It is time for you to die!" the Brute growled at her as he reaised his plasma rifle.

Before the Brute could fire his weapon…

"What's going on?" a high pitched voice squeaked.

The Brute was suddenly thrown onto the stairs as a small figure landed on top of him. It was the Grunt. Eve quickly seized the opportunity and ran up the stairs into the room.

"Get off me, you whelp!" the Brute shouted at the Grunt as he tried to push the alien off him.

Eve ran from the stairs. That was two down. Just one more to g-

Pain flared up and down her body. Eve fell to ther floor, groaning. She placed a hand on her head as she lifted herself up from the floor. Suddenly, a large hand covered with gold armour and grabbed Eve by the neck and lifted her up a few feet from the floor. The Brute with the golden armour laughed at Eve.

"You shall no longer threaten the Great Journey, demon!" he said to her.

Eve's vision was fading quickly. She had to do something! If she died then the war was pretty much over for mankind. She would let everyone down. No! That was not going to happen! She was not going to let everyone down. Over her dead body.

Eve brought her foot back and launched a kick at the Brute, hitting him in the chest. The Brute roared in pain, feeling a burning pain run up and down his torso even with his protective armour, and dropped Eve onto the floor. Eve then swung her weapon into the Brute's leg, causing him to fell face first onto the floor. Eve then hit the Brute over the head with her spiker, knocking him out cold.

_Now I can actuivate the bomb _she thought as she ran over to the enormous device.

Eve rested a hand on the scanning device on the control panel. A small green light lit up on the side of the control panel. Then, in red, a holographic timer appeared. It was on **06:12**. She had only a few minutes to get out of the base before it was blown to hell.

Eve ran back towards the stairwell, jumping over the knocked out Brute. When she reached the stairwell, she ran down the steps, passing the Grunt and Brute as they were stil trying to stand up. Eve ran right down the corridor as fast as she could. When she was about half-way down the corridor, her ear radio crackled to life.

_"Well done, Eve," _came Mary's voice. _"Now get out of there,"How the hell am I supposed to get out of here? _Eve thought.

_"There's a service elevator on the other side of the wall in the hanger," _came John's voice. There was her answer. _"We'll open the blast door and the elevator door for you, Eve. Get there, hurry,"_

Eve ran left through the barracks into the large cave. A few Grunts that were searching through the dead Drones screamed as she appeared. Eve ignored them and ran up the metal staircase, having to push one of the Grunts out of the way as it ran towards the metal staircase. Eve ran through across the raised concrete into the bunker. The door at the end of the bunker was still open. She ran towards it.

BOOM! The bunker shook violently as a faint booming sound filled the air. had to place both hands against the wall to stop herself from falling over. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped. Eve straightened herself up.

_What the hell was that? _she thought.

Was it the bomb going off early? No, it could not be. If it was, then the base would be going up in flames and her along with it. Maybe it was best if she did not know. She could not stay to find out anyway. She had to get out of here.

Eve ran down the bunker and through the doorway into the large fan-like surfaced room. She ran right down the corridor and turned left into the smaller corridor that led into the tunnel. As Eve emerged from the corridor, a large green mass flew out from a large vent on the tunnel's ceiling and zoomed down the tunnel. Eve screamed as the Drones flew into her. One of them flew into her. Eve's hand inadvertently grabed hold of one of the wings of the Drone. The creature screeched loudly, covering Eve's yell as they fell to the ground because of the extra weight. Eve quickly stood up and swung her foot into the face of the Drone, hitting it in the forehead and knocking it out completely.

Eve ran past the knocked out Drone towards the corridor that led off into the left wall. When she reached it, she ran down the corridor and turned left into the fan-like surfaced room and turned right into the next corridor. When she reached the end of this one, she turned left into a smaller corridor and ran to the end of this one and turned right into another smaller corridor. At the end was the doorway into the hanger. Her ticket out of here. Eve ran down the corridor towards the hanger.

When Eve ran into the hanger, she saw it was still the same. The bodies of the fallen marines and Covenant still remained and the CCS battle cruiser was still hovering in the sky, though the dogfight that had been raging in front of it had ended. Eve ran into the hanger to the top of the metal staircase that led down to the metal floor. She scanned the entire room. So where was the opening John said he would make for her?

It was then she noticed something different about the end of the right wall near the hanger entrance. A closer look revealed it was a small blast door opening that, hopefully, led to the elevator. Eve ran down the staircase to the metal floor. She ran across the metal floor to the opening. When she reached it, she saw the opening led into a large square shaped room with a blast door on the back wall. A small truck had been turned on It's side against the right wall of the room. A large rectangular opening was on the left wall of the room. Eve ran nto the room towards the rectangular opening. On the other side of the opening was a large metal floor with several large girders sticking up towards the ceiling and forming some kind of box. A large button was on the main girder on the right side of the box. It was the elevator.

Eve ran into the elevator over to the button. She pressed it. The elevator door lowered over the entrance. Eve jolted slightly as the elevator descended away from the room into a tunnel. Eve looked up and saw the hole becoming distant. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had made it. She had escaped from the base. Now she could join up with everyone else and continue the fight against the Covenant and drive them from Eart-

BOOM! Eve looked up. Her worst fears had been realised. The bomb had exploded. She jolted again as he elevator came to a sudden halt. BOOM! Another explosion lit up the tunnel, only this time a wave of flame shot out of the elevator entrance. Another explosion followed the flames. However, that was not the end of it.

Before Eve could blink, a huge chunk of concrete was blown off the tunnel's ceiling and fell towards the elevator. Eve dived to the floor and covered her head and waited for the concrete to hit the top of the elevator.

CRASH! The concrete block hit the top of the elevator. However, it broke apart into hundreds of smaller chunks and showered Eve. A few large chunks struck her, each feeling like a car was ramming into her. It hurt like hell. A few large pieces struck her shoulders and a small piece hit her head. Eve groaned and struggled to stay awake as more explosions erupted above. So this was how it was going to end for her. She was going to buried alive-

"What the…?"Though her vision was almost gone, Eve could see something in the elevator. It was… a purple light? What the hell was a purple light doing in an elevator? Wait a moment! Was this light Covenant? No it could not be. There was no Covenant when she arrived in the elevator and none had managed to get into it within the past few moments.

Wait! Something was taking shape in the purple light. It… it was… it was a figure? What was it? Or a batter question; who was it? As the shape began to take form, Eve saw that the figure was becoming clear. It was a man, about Eve's height, dressed in a high ranking UNSC officer's uniform. He was glowing purple and had some kind of purple/light blue lines going from his feet up his body to his head. Eve gasped.

It was Auto.

When Auto had formed, he walked over towards Eve. As he came closer, Eve saw his suit was torn in several places and he had bruise marks on his face. Eve reached a hand out towards Auto. He would help her. They were strong friends. When Auto reached Eve, he knelt down in front of her and reached a hand out towards hers. A happy and relieved feeling filled Eve. Auto's here. He's going to help me! Then… I can hug him and tell him I was not going to leave him. I might even ask how he got her-

Suddenly, Auto's hand grabbed Eve and clutched down hard. Eve gritted her teeth in pain but she could not shout or tell him to stop. Then, she began to feel drained. Her vision was slowly getting weaker. Auto was draining her. Whether it was energy or life, she did not know.

Eve finally closed her eyes and her head hit the floor. Auto let go of her hand and said one sentence to Eve.

****

"This place will become your tomb,"

_  
_


	5. Tsavo Highway

Darkness filled the air in the remains of the elevator tunnel. The opening into the room where the elevator was parked alongside was now blocked by fallen rubble. Sparks flew out of the loose wires from gaps in what had been the tunnel's walls. A few loose pieces of concrete, some having a small fragment of steel attached to them, fell from the walls to the elevator's remains at the bottom of the tunnel. A small fire was raging on a pile of rubble in the corner of the elevator. It was obvious nothing could live through a devastating fall like that.

"Ugh… wha… what happened?"

All of a sudden, a few large pieces of concrete were pushed off the pile onto the elevator floor. A groan emerged from the hole which they had been covering, followed by a hand. A figure wearing a white bodysuit and white boots pulled herself out from underneath the rubble. It was Eve. Miraculously, she had survived with only a few bruises and scratch marks. A small cut on her hand trickled with a few drops of blood before stopping. Eve groaned as she picked herself up from the elevator floor, or what was left of it as a few pieces of concrete had smashed right through it, leaving two large holes that had almost cut the elevator floor in half. She rubbed the side of her head and quickly went over what she had just seen.

Auto. She had seen him. Then, he grabbed her and made her pass out. Why had he done that? More importantly; how the hell had he managed to get to Earth when he was meant to be stuck on High Charity? It made no sense at all. Something here was not right and Eve had to find out what it was that made her se Auto. It was no way by any means her imagination or a hallucination. She had _definitely_ seen him and now he had just disappeared into thin air. Whatever was going on did not seem like a good thing.

Eve scanned her surroundings, though it was hard to see as it was almost pitch black and the fire was too small to light up the entire elevator. Where was she? Had the elevator fallen further underground or had it become jammed in the tunnel? Either way, she could be stuck, even if the elevator had fallen further underground, most likely to the bottom of the tunnel where there was another way in and out of it, the way out was probably blocked. If it was, then she was stuck here until either the Covenant or the UNSC found her, or until the base collapsed and buried her alive.

Suddenly, another light lit up the elevator. It was coming from the corner. Eve looked and went wide-eyed. It was the purple light again. A figure quickly formed from the light and stood there, staring at her. It was Auto. He was at Eve's height again and still had his torn suit on and bruise marks over his face and hands.

Eve stared at him as if she were in a kind of trance, waiting for Auto to talk or move. Then, Auto walked towards Eve, who stepped backwards but was stopped by the pile of rubble. Her heart beat madly against her chest. Even though she was his friend, Eve panicked at the thought if Auto turned on her again, or if he had done when she had been buried under the pile of rubble.

Auto stopped a few feet in front of Eve, not taking his eyes of her. She could see that they were not in a glare or wide open as if shocked or scared. They were just looking at her through a plain, emotionless gaze. Eve, feeling slightly braver but keeping her weapon slightly raised just in case, stepped towards Auto. He did nothing, apart from continuing to stare at her.

"Auto," Eve said. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, Auto screwed up his face in a look of pain and collapsed to the floor, slamming his hands onto his forehead. He let out a weak cry and curled up like a baby.

"Auto, what's wrong?" Eve asked worryingly as she knelt down beside him and placed a hand on his side and lifted his head up with her other hand.

Auto gritted his teeth and looked up at her. He let out a grunt of pain.

"**E… Eve," **he said.

"What is it?" Eve asked him as she leaned her face closer to his. "What's wrong, Auto? Why are you acting like your in pain?"

**"Hi… Ch…ity,"** Auto said weakly. **"Y… Protect… Ear-… The Ark-"**

Auto, suddenly, began to fade away. Eve gasped and watched him disappear as if he were a ghost. What was it he was trying to tell her? What was it? What was it?

"Auto, no!" Eve cried. "What is it your trying to tell me? Auto, please don't go! PLEASE!"

"Eve?" another voice said.

Eve looked up and saw a figure standing in the faint outline of a doorway that had been bent slightly. The figure stepped towards her into the weak light caused by the fire. It was a marine.

"Oh good, your alive," he said in a relieved tone. "Are you okay? Who were you talking to?"

Eve tried to reply but the words got lost in her mouth.

"Corporal!" a voice barked out from the other side of the doorway. "Is anyone alive in there?"

"Yeah," the marine shouted back. "Eve's in here. She's okay,"

The marine turned and walked out of the elevator into the room on the other side. Eve stood up and scanned the elevator again as if she were expecting to be in some new place. Auto had just appeared and disappeared into thin air again, only this time he had spoken to Eve and tired to tell her something. She had to find out what was going on and if he was alright.

"_Eve-(static)-please respond…(static)…" _came Mary's voice from her ear radio._ "What's your status, over?…(static)… I… if you can hear me, find transport…(static)… Get to the town of Voi. (static)… We'll meet you there, over,"_

Eve sighed. Auto would have to wait. Right now, she had to get to Voi and link up with Mary and any other UNSC that managed to escape the base.

Eve walked forward through the doorway into a large square shaped room with a raised pathway going down the middle of the room to the back wall where a locked and badly damaged door was. On the raised pathway, in front of Eve, was a large crate where a marine was tending to a wounded comrade. Scattered around on the floor on both sides of the raised pathway were warthog remains, some on their own whilst others were in huge piles and burning. To her left on the wall behind her was a large blast door that had been badly damaged and was bent slightly. On the right side of the wall, further down near the wall, was a small doorway that had managed to survive the bomb mostly intact. A few other wounded marines lined along the walls. The room was very dimly lit, only by the fires, as a few sparks flew out of where the lights were, or where they had been. About four other marines were tending to them.

"Ah!" one marine nearby growled as his comrade was pressing down on a blood stained bandage wrapped around a wound on his chest. "I've got a broken rib!"

"You wanna bleed out?" the marine tending to his wound inquired.

"No," the wounded marine answered as he winced from the pain that was flaring up and down his body like a fire.

"Then I've got to keep pressure on the wound," the marine pressing down on the wound said.

Another wave of guilt swept over Eve, only this time it was much worse. Most of these marines had probably been hurt because of her. When she activated the bomb, these marines were probably trying to find a way out of the base and ended up getting caught in the blast radius. Now they were probably going to end up getting left her to die. She felt horrible. Sometimes she just really wondered whether it was the Covenant that was killing the UNSC or if it was her leading them to her deaths.

"Settle down marines!" a sergeant near the end of the raised pathway said loudly. "Somebody hit the emergency power,"

Another marine ran up to the left end of the wall behind Eve and pulled a switch. One light that was still mostly intact lit up lit up about a quarter of the room. At least now the marines could see better.

"Did everyone get out in time?" a nearby marine asked.

"As far as I know; yes," Eve answered the marine's question, making him jump.

"The commander and sergeant John managed to escape and they want everyone to head to Voi," the marine at the back of the room explained. "If you can walk, set your boots on the line. We're heading to Voi,"

The sergeant, along with three other marines, ran towards the door at the right end of the wall behind Eve. Eve ran over to them and stopped the sergeant.

"What about the wounded?" she asked him. "Surely, we can't just leave them here,"

"We've called a pelican," the sergeant told her. "It'll be here to pick up the wounded."

"What if it doesn't get here?" Eve asked the sergeant, starting to get annoyed. "We can't just leave them here. The Brutes will kill them."

"We can't take them with us, Eve," the sergeant said to her. "We don't have enough vehicles and we'll be sitting ducks. No, Eve! We need to get to Voi!"

Before Eve could say anything more, the sergeant walked past her down a small almost pitch black corridor to another large room at the end. Eve sighed. This was stupid! These marines would be sitting ducks if the Brutes found them, but the sergeant was right in a way. They would be sitting ducks if they took the wounded with them. Eve looked back at the wounded marines. There was only two marines left to defend them. Hopefully, the pelican would get here in time.

"Eve!" the sergeant at the end of the corridor called, drawing her gaze. "C'mon, we have to go,"

Eve sighed again and ran down the corridor towards the room at the end. When she reached the end of the corridor, she found herself in another large square shaped room with a raised section of floor leading to a large blast door on the wall opposite Eve. On the wall next to it was another switch. Along the left and right walls were several parked warthogs. Some had been destroyed and were now burning piles of metal.

Eve ran over to one of the machine gunned warthogs and climbed into the driver's seat. The sergeant ran over to the vehicle and climbed on the turret. Two of the other marines ran over to another warthog that had two small seats built into the sides of the back of the vehicle. One of them climbed into the driver's seat whilst the other climbed into the back.

"I'll get the door," the last marine, who was not in a vehicle, said.

The marine ran over to the switch next to the blast door and pulled it. He then ran over to the warthog with the other two marines and climbed into the passenger seat. A loud unlocking sound filled the room. Then, the blast door began to open up, moving out away from the room. On the other side was an enormous tunnel that had been dug out through the rock of this mountain or hill. A few large square shaped metal pieces metal had been placed on the ground to provide a path for any warthogs.

Eve started her warthog. The engine hummed. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The tires screeched loudly as she drove onto the raised path and through the blast door into the tunnel. The other warthog followed close behind.

"How far does this tunnel go?" Eve asked the sergeant.

"Only a few hundred metres," the sergeant answered. "The exit's not far ahead,"

As the warthog drove up a small rock hill, Eve heard a different noise. It sounded like… gunfire? She had heard this many times before so it was obvious there was a battle going on ahead. However, she never knew what Covenant would be taking part in the fighting. Hopefully, it was not anything like Brutes or Drones.

"Get ready," Eve announced to the other UNSC soldiers. "We may have a fight going on up ahead,"

Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog sped forward down the tunnel. Eve turned the vehicle right and drove through a gap created by four large metal pillars that rose up to the rock ceiling.

"Up ahead!" the sergeant exclaimed all of a sudden.

Eve looked and saw why the sergeant had exclaimed. Ahead of them was another blast door, that was open about half-way, leading outside. Against the right rock wall were two small cylindrical buildings with large square shaped windows cut out on the front of them. A small doorway was built into the left sides of the buildings. Inside the buildings were two UNSC marines armed with battle rifles. They were firing on a group of Grunts and Jackals. One of the marines fired on one of the Grunt, hitting it in the head, killing it. One of the Jackals pressed down on It's plasma pistol's trigger. A green shot began to form up on the front of the weapon. The jackal then fired the shot at the marines. They ducked, narrowly missing it as it zoomed over their heads and hit the wall.

"We have to help them!" Eve exclaimed.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator, causing the warthog to shoot forward towards the battle. The sergeant turned the vehicle's turret towards the Covenant and pressed down on the trigger. The machine gun chattered as a barrage of bullets flew out at the Covenant. The Covenant squad failed to react quick enough and were cut down by the barrage.

After a few seconds, the sergeant released his grip on the machine gun's trigger. Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator and drove forward towards the blast door. She stopped the vehicle next to the cylindrical buildings.

"Thanks for the help, guys," one of the marines said to them.

"We're heading to Voi," the sergeant said to the marines. "You coming with us?"

"No, we'll stay here and wait for the pelican to arrive for the wounded," one of the marines replied. "We'll meet you there,"

The sergeant nodded.

"Keep going, Eve," he said to her.

Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog drove forward through the gap between the blast door and the wall outside. The warthog with the three marines followed close behind. Eve stopped the warthog and went wide eyed at the scene in front of her. The sergeant swore under his breath. The other warthog stopped alongside, It's occupants also shocked at the sight before them.

The crews of the two warthogs found themselves in a small bowl-like area with steep hills and the mountain going around the sides of the bowl. A small hill was in the middle of the bowl. Nearby, one against the side of the bowl area and one at the back of the bowl area, were the remains of two phantoms that looked as though they had been set on fire, hit a hundred times by cannon fire from a scorpion tank and then crushed and torn apart by some monster. The side of one of them lay on the ground just a few feet from where it had been, revealing the torn and screwed up insides of the craft. A small pathway led off through the middle of one of the hills at the back of the bowl. However, that was not what shocked the crews of the warthogs.

What shocked them was that over the top of the bowl, and resting against the side of the mountain, was an enormous metallic ring which had It's inner surface ripped apart and huge steel couplings and girders hanging out from the inside. What the hell was it and how did it get here?Eve shook the scene out of her head.

"We have to keep moving," she said, snapping the others out of their trance. "We'll find out what it is later,"

Eve pressed her foot down on the warthog's accelerator. She drove the vehicle forward towards the back of the bowl-like area. The other warthog followed close behind. Hopefully, there was going to be a way out of here to get to Voi.

As the two vehicles drove over the side of the small hill in the middle of the bowl area, a barrage of blasts flew at them. Eve swerved the warthog right, narrowly missing the blasts as they flew past them. The sergeant turned the warthog's turret towards the remains of the phantom at the back of the bowl. A Brute wearing dark blue armour with a dark blue helmet and two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides of the helmet was standing amongst the remains of the phantom. He was armed with a plasma rifle. With him was a group of four minor Grunts, who were all armed with needlers.

The sergeant and the two passenger marines in the other warthog fired a barrage of bullets at the Covenant. Two of the Grunts were hit and yelled loudly as they flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The Brute growled and fired a few shots from his plasma rifle at the warthogs. One of the blasts hit Eve's shield, causing it to light up and the holographic meter to appear above her wrist. Luckily, the level was in the green zone.

The sergeant aimed the turret at the Brute and fired. As the bullets hit the Brute's shield, a bolt of electricity lit up on the creature's chest. The Brute groaned in pain and reached into the strap placed around his torso underneath the armour. He took out a small ball-shaped device and threw it at towards the warthogs.

At once, Eve and the driver of the other warthog almost lost control of their vehicles as the ball seemed to lit up brighter than the Sun. The sergeant looked away but the light seemed to come from all directions. He took his hand off the turret to cover his face. Big mistake. As Eve took a hand off the steering wheel to cover her face, the warthog hit a small rock. The sergeant yelled as he fell off the warthog onto the ground.

Finally, the light faded away and the ball exploded. The sergeant groaned as he lifted his head up from the floor. That hurt. At least he did not end up breaking a bone or seriously injure himself.

"Time to die, whelp," The sergeant looked up to see the Brute walking towards him, his plasma rifle raised. The brute rested a finger on the trigger. Now all he had to do was press down and the marine would be dead. He would become one of the many thousands that had been and still were being killed across the plane-

BEEEP! The Brute looked and saw a warthog charging full speed towards him. In the vehicle were the three marines. The creature roared in panic but before he could so much move…

WHAM! The Brute was hit so hard by the warthog that he was thrown through the side of the remains of the phantom. A loud crash followed as the top of the phantom caved in over where the Brute landed.

"You okay?" the driver asked as the sergeant stood up.

"Yeah, thanks," the sergeant replied. He looked around. "Where's Eve,"

"There she is," one of the marines in the back of the warthog said, pointing over to the top of one of the hills that formed the bowl.

Perched on the top of the hill was the other warthog. The sergeant ran up the hill to the warthog. Eve was sitting in the driver's seat, staring ahead with wide eyes. The sergeant saw this when he reached her.

"Are you okay, Eve?" he asked. "What's up?"

Eve replied by nodding, indicating him to look forward. The sergeant did so. He swore loudly.

The hill the two were on top of was on the edge of an enormous savannah. A mountain was visible many miles away in the distance. The land was covered with a lime green colour of grass and trees. This was the perfect place for savannah animals to live. However, there was something else in the savannah that stood out very well.

There were more of the metallic rings in the in the savannah. Hundreds of them. They were scattered around for miles in every direction. Like the one above the bowl, they had their huge wires and girders sticking out of the insides. Some were even torn in half and laying in many pieces that were also scattered around the savannah.

"Jesus Christ," the sergeant whispered.

"What's the matter?" the driver of the other warthog asked as he drove up next to the two, only to grow silent along with his passengers as they saw the sight in front of them.

"I recognize those rings," one of the marines on the back of the second warthog said. "They're from the Mombassa Sky Elevator,"

"What happened to it?" Eve asked the marine. "It collapsed when the Covenant glassed the city," the marine answered.

"But… but it was over ten miles high!" Eve stammered.

"Well now It's scattered over the savannah," the driver of the second warthog said.

"Holy crap!" the sergeant whispered astonishingly.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve," _came John's voice. _"I still can't get the Commander. Her pelican got separated from mine. The COMs are a mess and there's other pelicans scattered. Best thing to do now is get some distance from the base. The Brutes are gonna be looking for survivors,"_

Eve placed a hand on the radio in her ear.

"Roger that, John," she said. "We'll meet you at Voi,"

Eve lowered her hand and started the warthog engine again. The sergeant climbed back onto the turret. Eve reversed the warthog back down the hill to the bottom of the bowl. She turned the vehicle towards the pathway and drove forwards. The other warthog followed close behind.

Eve led the convoy down the pathway. She turned right and drove the warthog down that pathway. Up ahead at the end was another bowl-like area. When the convoy came out of the pathway, the crews saw this bowl-like area was much like the last, only this time there were two small hills in the middle of the bowl and a small dried up riverbed leading to a small steel dam. A pathway led up past the left side of the dam to a small canyon on the other side. Also like the last bowl area, there was a metallic ring, only half of it was missing and it was placed on It's side against the bowl area.

Suddenly, the sergeant fired a barrage of bullets towards the metallic ring. Eve looked and saw the remains of another phantom lying up against the side of the ring. Among the remains was another Brute wearing teal green armour. With him was a squad of Grunts, one of them manning a plasma turret on a stand. Nearby was a large cross shaped platform. A light blue haze was ascending into the air from the middle of it. Floating about fifteen feet above the platform was a circular platform with three large pillars sticking up into the air out of the sides of the platform. Standing on the platform was a tall, thin figure wearing a grey vest and carrying a long silver weapon. A Jackal sniper.

The Brute roared something and pointed over to the two warthogs. A second later, a purple laser shot out from the Jackal towards the convoy. It hit one of the marines in the side. Blood poured from the wound. The marine gasped something before he fell out of the back of the warthog onto the ground, dead.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator. Her warthog shot forward like a bullet, narrowly missing another purple laser that hit the back of the warthog, almost hitting the sergeant's foot. The sergeant turned the turret towards the circular platform and fired. The Jackal screeched loudly and ducked behind one of the pillars. The platform rocked slightly as the bullets hit it. Then…

BOOM! The platform exploded into three large pieces. The Jackal screeched loudly as it fell to the ground, landing painfully on It's back. One of the three large pieces fell on top of it, no doubt killing the creature.

"You will pay for that, you whelps!" the Brute shouted at the warthog.

With the jackal dead, Eve and the marines could deal with the rest of the Covenant squad more easily. Eve drove the warthog full speed towards the phantom remains.

"Here comes the demon!" Eve heard one of the Grunts squeak.

The Grunt manning the plasma turret aimed the weapon at the incoming warthog and fired. The warthog's thick front armour easily withstood the barrage of the blasts. The sergeant chuckled.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he shouted to them.

As if on cue, one of the blasts went underneath the front armour and struck the front left tire. At once, the rubber was ripped apart and flew off onto the ground. The warthog screeched loudly and shook wildly from side to side. Eve tried to keep the vehicle going straight forward but it was no use. Then…

CRASH! The warthog tipped over and crashed against the side of a boulder, throwing Eve and the sergeant to the ground. Eve groaned as she sat up from the ground, rubbing her head. She saw the sergeant's motionless body and scrambled over to it. She placed two fingers on his pulse. Oh thank God. He was still alive. He was still knocked ou-

"AAAAH!"

Eve turned to look through the gap between the warthog and the boulder to see the Brute fall to the ground. A large piece of his chest armour flew off into the air and hit one of the Grunts on the back of the head. A second later, the other warthog came into a view. The remaining passenger marine was firing out at the Grunts from the back of the warthog.

Suddenly, one of the Grunts took out two small dark blue ball shaped devices and lit them. Plasma grenades! The Grunt screamed something and charged towards the warthog as it hit the side of a piece of the phantom, brinding it to a halt. The driver saw the threat coming and tired to reverse but one of the tires got stuck. The Grunt was getting closer.

BOOM! The plasma grenades exploded. Eve looked away for a second before looking back towards the warthog. It was now turned on It's side. The Grunt had disappeared completely, probably having been completely obliterated by the grenades. However, Eve was shocked to see that Grunts _were_ becoming more suicidal. She had only seen one of them become a suicidal creature before. That was when she was in the jungles near Crow's Nest. However, she only thought that Grunt had decided to try and kill her and the Arbiter. She had very little doubt about Covenant troops, especially Grunts who were easily scared and fled at the sight of an overwhelming enemy force, were becoming more suicidal and were willing to literally kill themselves in order for their goal to become a reality.

Then, a figure ran out from behind the other warthog. It was one of the marines! He fired a burst of ammo at the Grunt on the plasma turret. The creature yelled loudly as it fell sideways onto the ground, dead. The marine then ran back behind the warthog and helped the other marine out. The other marine was holding his head. Eve could faintly see a bit of red on his hand. His head was bleeding, but at least he was still alive and he did look as though he did not have a broken bone or anything.

Eve grabbed the knocked out sergeant and moved out, crouched, from under her turned over warthog. She then stood up and ran over to the other warthog. The uninjured marine waved at her as she approached. He then looked slightly worryingly at the knocked out sergeant.

"Is he alright?" he asked Eve.

"He's fine," she replied. "Just knocked out,"

"Well, set him down here," the marine said pointing next to his other wounded comrade as he ran back behind the warthog.

Eve did so and checked the sergeant's head. He had a slight bruise mark on the side of his neck below his ear. Hopefully, there was going to be something to wake him up and something to stop the cut from bleeding on the other marine's head.

"_Chieftains!" _

Eve shot round, expecting a Brute, or a whole pack of Brutes, charging towards her. There was nothing there. Hang on. She was sure she had heard a voice and she was as sure as hell not imagining it.

"_Rally your packs!"_

There it was again! She was not imaganing it, but where was the voice coming from? She could hear it quite clear so it had to be nearby.

The phantom remains. Maybe it was coming from there. Eve stood up and walked towards the craft's remains. The uninjured marine ran out from behind the warthog, holding a small dark green briefcase that contained medical equipment. He saw Eve walking off towards the phantom's remains.

"Where you going, Eve?" he asked her.

Eve held up her hand in reply, not turning to face the marine. When she reached the phantom, she climbed through a hole in the front. She quickly found herself in a dark purple/dark blue coloured room with a torn apart metal seat and smashed controls. She was in the phantom's cog pit.

"_Kill all survivors! Let none near the crater!" _came a deep voice, no doubt a Brute's, over the control panel's badly damaged but still working radio.

The crater? Why were the Covenant trying to stop UNSC marines from getting near a crat-Wait a minute. Back in the command centre of the Crow's Nest base. Mary told her that Truth's forces had started digging in the sands near New Mombassa's ruins. By the sounds of it, they must have found something that they did not want the UNSC to go near.

"_The Prophet will soon complete his blessed task!" _came the Brute's voice again.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger when she heard this message. She really hated the fact that truth was having his troops kill everyone on this planet and cause a lot of fear and panic and it was all just for some stupid religious belief. She rellay hated Truth and just sometimes _wanted _to kill him.

"Hey Eve," one of the marines called. "C'mon, we need to get out of here,"

Eve ran out of the phantom's cog pit back outside. The sergeant had woken up and the wounded marine now had a bandage wrapped around the top of his head. Eve ran over to the group and, with the marine's help, pushed the warthog back onto It's wheels. Eve climbed into the driver's seat whilst the sergeant and the wounded marine sat in the back of the warthog. The marine, who now had a plasma rifle from the dead Brute, that had been driving the warthog sat in the passenger seat.

Eve started the warthog. The engine hummed. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator and drove the vehicle right towards the dam. As they approached it, the marine in the passenger seat saw two large shapes move on the top of the dam. He raised his weapon and shouted…

"Stay where you are!"

Not even a second passed before a purple laser shot out of one of the two figures and hit the side of the warthog, narrowly missing the front right tire. The figures were Jackals with beam rifles! Eve slamed her foot down on the aceelerator, causing the warthog to shoot forward. The marine in the passenger seat fired a burst of light blue blasts at the Jackals. The creature was hit and fell to the dam's floor, dead. The sergeant and the wounded marine raised their weapons and fired at the other Jackal, hitting that one in the face and chest, killing it.

Eve drove the warthog over the pathway into the dried riverbed behind the dam. About fifty feet ahead, the canyon turned right along with the riverbed. Eve drove the warthog down the riverbed and turned into the next canyon. About sixty feet ahead, the canyon and riverbed turned left. Eve drove the warthog down the riverbed towards the end.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_I repeat: My convoy's been hit. I've got wounded-(static). We're on the Tsavo Highway about-(static)-east of Voi. Someone, anyone, please, respond!"_

The transmission was interrupted by more static before it was cut off. Eve pressed down on the warthog's accelerator even more. Increasing It's speed.

"Get ready," she said to the UNSC soldiers. "There's another convoy up ahead and they've got trouble,"

When the warthog reached the end of this part of the canyon, Eve turned the warthog left. The dried riverbed rose up and came out of the canyon to became part of a grassland. The canyon's two rock walls also ended here, the left wall having joined onto a small mountain. About ten feet from the exit of the canyon was a small cube shaped building with three entrances around It's sides. Twenty feet to the left of the cube shaped building was a rectangular shaped building that had most of It's roof and part of It's side wall destroyed. The remains of a warthog lay in the middle of the two buildings. A dead marine was lying on the ground next to the warthog's remains. About fifty feet ahead of the canyon exit was part of a highway that led left into a tunnel that had been built through the bottom of the side of a mountain. A purple haze was covering the entrance to the tunnel. The right side of the highway, which must have been a bridge as it went over a large valley to join up with another road on another hill on the other side, had been destroyed, revealing the steel girders inside the concrete. Two large crates lay in the middle of the highway. It was the Tsavo Highway. This was where the transmission had come from, but where was the person that had been sending it?

"Kill the whelps!"

Eve and the soldiers in the warthog looked towards the rectangular shaped building. A Brute wearing teal green armour ran out of the building wielding a spiker. He fired a few spikes at the left side entrance into the cube shaped building. The crew of the warthog saw a figure move to avoid them. Then, a squad of Grunts, all armed with plasma pistols, ran out from behind one of the crates and fired on the cube shaped building. Following close behind them was a Brute wearing dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet. The Brute raised his plasma rifle and fired a barrage of blue blasts at the cube shaped building.

Eve drove the warthog full speed towards the battle. When it was close enough, the soldiers aimed their weapons and fired on the Covenant. One of the Grunts was hit and yelled as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The Brute wearing teal green armour was hit repeatedly in the chest and stomach until he could not withstand the barrage and anymore and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Fall back!" the brute wearing dark blue armour commanded.

The Brute and the Grunts ran back behind the crate. The sergeant fired a few bullets over the top of the crate as if just making fure the Covenant got the message. Eve climbed out of the warthog and ran into the cube shaped building. There were four marines standing around in the building's single room. One of them had a bandage around his leg, which must have been hit quite badly as the bandage was very dark red. One of the marines, holding a battle rifle, walked up to Eve.

"Good to see you, Eve," he said. "We thought we were goners,"

"What happened?" Eve asked.

"We were en route to Voi to link up with the commander," the marine explained. "Just as we came over the highway bridge…" the marine pointed to the remains of the destroyed section of the highway; "some banshees attacked us and blew up the bridge. We lost a warthog filled with about five wounded. Then these guys showed up and we've stuck her for about ten minutes. It's pretty much ruined our day,"

Eve sighed.

"Haven't any pelicans been sent out to help?" she asked the marine.

"We don't know," the marine replied doubtfully. "The only transmission we've had with the commander was some time ago. We haven't heard anything since."

"WATCH OUT!"

CRASH! Eve and the marines inside the building looked outside to see the warthog turned on It's side. The three soldiers who had been inside were lying on the ground, groaning in pain. What the hell had caused that to happn?"Watch out! Choppers!" one of the marines isndie the building shouted.

Choppers? What did he mean? If they were the old 20th and 21st century military choppers he was talking about then what the hell were they doing here? They had stopped being used about two hundred and fifty years ago. Wait! Maybe he meant it was something the Covenant had.

It was then Eve saw what the soldier meant.

A few seconds after the marine shouted, a large vehcile zoomed out from behind one of the crates. It was a large silver vehicle about twenty feet long and nine foot wide. It had a large spinning tire-like circle at the front, only without the rubber. The tire was connected to a large circular piece of armour that had a large metallic seat sticking out of the back of it. A side view of the armour made it look like the skull of some creature with sharp teeth. Two small engines stuck out of the back of the seat. At the front of the large circular armour piece of the vehicle were two small slots; the vehicle's cannons. A Brute wearing teal green armour was driving the vehicle.

The Covenant vehicle fired two shots out of It's front cannons at the warthog. The vehicle flipped over onto It's top, almost crushing one of the marines. The three soldiers ran past Eve into the cube shaped building. The Brute then turned the vehicle towards the building and fired. Eve hid behind the wall, narrowly missing one of the blasts as it took a huge chunk off the wall.

"I take it that is the chopper you guys were talking about," she said to the marine, who was taking cover behind the wall opposite her, she had been speaking with just moments earlier.

"Yeah," the marine replied. "And It's even worse than the ghosts,"

The chopper's cannons continued to fire away at the walls of the building. Large chunks of concrete and steel were being blown off as if they were paper. Eventually, the wall would collpase and the squad would be exposed. Eve looked out of the building's other two entrances, hoping to find a way past the chopper. She found it after a few seconds. Through the front entrance, which led to the highway, was the side of the first large crate. If Eve ran behind it and ran to the other end of the crate, she might be able to flank the chopper. The only problem was that other Covenant soldiers could be waiting behind it. It was a dangerous idea, but it was better than staying behind this wall waiting be blown apart.

"Try and kep the chopper distracted," Eve said to the marines.

Befoe anyone could ask her why, Eve ran out of the building's front entrance to the crate. She quickly hid behind the side. She had made it, but had the chopper seen her. Eve carefully peeked her head out from behind the crate to see that the chopper was still firing on the building. Good. She had not been spotted… yet. She had to be quick if she was to kill the Brute piloting the chopper and get everyone to Voi.

Eve stepped to the other end of the side of the crate and peeked her head out from behind it. It was clear. The Covenant troops must have fled into the tunnel or gone to get more reinforcement-

BANG! An explosion ripped a hole in the top of the crate a few feet from the end where Eve was hiding, throwing her to the ground. Eve groaned as she got up. Damn! They were still here, and now they had probably alerted the chopper to her.

Just then, a large figure ran towards Eve. It was a Brute. In his hands was a Brute shot. The Brute skidded to a halt and fired a shot at Eve. However, she saw it coming and dived out of the way. The shot exploded on the ground behind her. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she got up. The Brute was going to have to do better than that if he was goi-

"HAHA! You will die now, demon!"

Oh no! She had managed to avoid the grenade from the Brute shot, but she had dived out from behind her cover and now the Brute in the chopper had seen her. Suddenly, the Brute in the chopper pushed the controls forward to maximum. The vehicle shot forward towards Eve like a bullet. Eve dived back behind the crate, her foot narrowly missing the chopper as the front of the vehicle zoomed past her.

As Eve landed on the ground, she noticed a shadow looming over here. Eve gulped and her eyes slowly looked up. First they saw a pair of large feet, then legs with armour on the knee caps, then a torso covered with teal green armour, muscled arms, which were holding a Brute shot, and then a bear faced head. It was the Brute.

Before Eve could even blink, the Brute kicked her in the shoulder and grabbed her and threw her against the side of the crate. Eve groaned. The Brute laughed and stepped aside. Eve looked ahead to see the chopper aiming directly towards her. The Brute piloting the vehicle had his fingers on the trigger for the cannons. All he had to do now and Eve would, literally, be torn apart.

"Open fire!" a voice shouted.

Suddenly, the Brute standing next to Eve was hit repeatedly in the chest and head. Purple blood poured from the wounds and leaked through the gaps in the armour onto the ground. The Brute roared in pain and fell to the ground. Eve looked to her right and saw the soldiers had fired on the Brute. Thank God.

The Brute piloting the chopper turned his vehicle towards the UNSC squad and fired a few shots out of the cannons at them. One of the marines failed to move quick enough and was hit in the chest by one of the shots. The marine placed a hand on the wound, which began to pour with blood, and struggled to say something before he fell forwards onto the ground, dead. The other marines dived back into the building. The Brute moved his chopper forward, firing relentlessly at the walls in an effort to break them down and kill all the marines.

Eve saw this as she got up from the ground. She had to do something or all the marines in the building were going to die. She stood up and charged towards the chopper. By the time Brute saw her coming it was too late. Eve jumped onto the Brute and pushed his head against the back of the seat with one hand and moved the controls sideways with the other. The chopper flew sideways, almost throwing the two to the ground. The marines looked out and saw what was going on.

"Hang on, Eve!" the sergeant shouted as she ran out of the building; two marines following close behind.

Eve and the Brute cursed each other as they fought for the controls. The Brute grabbed Eve's hair and began to pull. Eve screamed in pain and swung her fist at the Brute's face, nailing him in the jaw. The Brute roared loudly and brought his other fist down on Eve's head, making her scream out again.

However, the two failed to notice that the chopper was edging towards the edge of the destroyed bridge. If it fell over the side then they were both dead.

"Eve!" the sergeant shouted. "Get off the chopper or your dead!"

Eve, stunned by a blow to the stomach by the Brute, looked and saw the approaching danger. She had to get off this thing or she could kiss her chance of helping the UNSC goodbye. Eve swung her fist at the Brute's head, hitting him in the nose. At the same time, she kicked the Brute in the stomach, winding the creature completely. The Brute roared in pain and let go of Eve's hair to wrap his arms around his stomach. Eve then kicked the controls sideways so they were lodged in place and then jumped off the vehicle onto the ground. Just in time! A second after she jumped off the chopper, the vehcile flew over the edge of the destroyed highway bridge and disappeared from sight. A loud roar was heard a for a few seconds but quickly faded away. As Eve stood up, she just managed to hear a faint loud crash.

Eve looked at the remains of the bridge as if she was watching the chopper fall over the edge again. That was close! Had she been a second later, she probably would have fallen to her death.

"Are you alright, Eve?" one of the marines asked as he ran up to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eve replied. "We better get moving before more Brutes show up," she added.

The marine nodded.

"We've got a few of our boys getting the warthog you brought back on It's wheels," the marine explained. "There was another in the tunnel but I don't think that barrier allows vehicles to pass through it."

The marine indicated over to the purple haze that was covering the entire entrance into the tunnel. Eve looked over at the tunnel.

"Let's see if it works on people as well," she said. "You guys get the warthog back on It's wheels. I'll go check and see if the warthog in the tunnel is still working."

The marine nodded and ran back towards the cube shaped building. Eve ran down the highway towards the tunnel. As she passed the second large crate, Eve saw another chopper parked nearby. Had the other Brute used that one, _then _they probably would have been able to kill her.

As Eve reached the tunnel, she looked through the haze into the tunnel. It was almost completely pitch black with the light from outside the tunnel covering only a few metres. Eve could also make out a dark shape about ten metres into the tunnel. She could also see a large plasma pistol top-like device, that was about the size of her, on the tarmac behind the haze. That was probably where the haze was coming from. She had to destroy it.

Then, Eve noticed something else as well. Where were the Grunts? They had to be somewhere. Maybe they had fled into the tunnel. Even though that got rid of the worry that creatures on foot might not be able to go through the barrier, another worry quickly filled It's place. Could only Covenant troops go through the barrier? If it only allowed Covenant troops to go through, then the squad was pretty much stuffed. The pelicans were most likely too far away to take them to Voi, (Eve also doubted that they would come if they were near because of any Covenant air patrols), and there was barely going to be any weapon here, even the choppers, that was going to be able to break through the barrier. Well, it cannot hurt to try, but she was worried that if she touched the haze, she would end up getting electrocuted, or burned alive, or some other horrible way she could die.

Eve shut her eyes and raised her hand, moving it towards the haze. Her mind prayed it would let her through.

Her prayers had been answered. Eve could feel no pain. She was not dying yet. She slowly opened her eyes to see that her hadn had gone right through the haze and was now inside the tunnel. She quickly pulled to chedk over it to make sure it was not going to suddenly disintegrate or burst into flames. Luckily, it did not.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward into the tunnel. Her whole body went through it. Even though she had tested the haze and was fine with the resul, she checked over her whole body just to make sure. She was fine. Now it was time to destroy the object producing the haze and continue ahead to Voi.

All of a sudden, Eve stopped. Her eyes rested on a small pillar with a white glowing cirlce on the top. Eve walked over to the pillar. As she approached it, a light suddenly shot up out of the white circle. Eve watched the light take form as a hologram. The hologram was an alien dressed in robes and sitting in a hover chair. Easily recognizable. It was Truth.

"_The gods will not begrudge our excavation," _he was saying. _"By uncovering this relic, we add homage to their glory. When the dust settles, we will all see what I already know: here lies the Path, the start of the Great Journey,"_

Eve felt angry once again. Truth was once again gloating about this 'Great Journey'. However, this time, he added himself in his message. It was as if he was thinking himself as a God already. By the looks of it, him being so close to the Ark already, he was starting go insane with… well, this happiness that the Covenant's Great Journey has almost started.

Eve shook the anger of out her mind. She would have time to be angry with Truth later. Right now,these marines needed her. Eve turned and ran back towards the haze activating device. When she reached it, she searched over the entire object. Therew was nothing to turn it off. The only other way to disable the haze was to destroy it, but was able to be destroyed, at least by Human weaponry. At least try, but Eve did not have a weapon. Well, her fists would have to deal with the problem.

Eve swung both of her fists at the machine. They easily penetrated the outer armour and hit the main power core inside the machine. At once, the device broke apart in an electrical explosion. The haze grew slightly dimmer before it finally faded away and disappeared. The entrance into the tunnel was clear.

"Nice work, Eve," one of the marines shouted to her as the warthog, which all the marines were riding in, drove over towards the tunnel.

When the warthog reached the tunnel, Eve turned and ran into it towards the large dark shape. The warthog followed next to her. She heard a quick chatter about a group of Grunts outside the tunnel being killed, putting the worry of Covenant reinforcements being called in out of her mind. The passenger marines had their weapons raised and fingers on the trigger's, ready to fire on any Covenant that might try and attack them.

Eve reached the dark shape. She looked behind it and saw the outline of a smaller vehicle ahead of her next o the wall. It was too dark, though, for her to see it.

"Can you shine the warthog's light ahead of me?" she aksed the marine driving ther vehicle.

The marine nodded and reversed the warthog left. He then drove forward and turned the vehicle right slightly so the front was now facing the smaller vehicle. The driver pressed a button on the back of the steering wheel. The front headlights grew brighter, lighting up more of the tunnel. The light revealed the smaller vehicle to be another warthog with a machine gun turret

Yes! Now they would have a ahcne to fend off any Covenant attacks. Eve ran forward towards the warthog and climbed into the driver's seat. Two marines on the back of the other jumped onto the ground and ran over to the machine gun warthog. One climbed on the turret whilst the other climbed into the passenger seat. Eve started the warthog's engine and drove the vehicle right down the tunnel. The other warthog followed close behind.

The two vehicles drove up a small hill in the middle fo the tunnel. As they reached the top of the hill, Eve caught sight of the tunnel exit about fifty feet ahead. Eve drove her warthog down the hill across the tarmac towards the tunnel's exit. The other warthog followed close behind.

When the two vehicles emerged from the tunnel, coming to a halt, the occupants found themselves on the highway that seemed to cut through a canyon. The highway, which was being held up by steel pillars, curved right andwent in that direction for about sixty feet until it curved left and disappeared behind one of the canyon walls. Eve could see a view of the entire savannah, or It's remains as there was a lot of smoke rising from the ground on the right side of the highway as it curved left.

The two warthogs were about to continue on when the ground started to shake violently. What the hell was going on. Was it an earthquake? It could not be. None of the surrounding canyon walls were collapsing and neither was the highway. So if it was not an earthquake, then what was it? Then, a large shadow fell over the wartohgs and seemed to cover everything in sight. The occupants of the warthogs looked up and saw the bottom of a Covenant CCS battle cruiser fly overhead. They watched as the craft flew out over the burning savannah area before turning left and disappearing behind the canyon wall.

"Looks like the Covenant are gathering somewhere." the marine driving the passenger warthog said.

"Probably over this crater they've been digging," another marine in the warthog added.

"We better get to Voi quickly," Eve announced.

Eve started the warthog's engine again and drove the vehicle down the highway. The other warthog followed. As they reached the left turning, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Commander, this is ONI Recon One-Eleven. The cruisers above-(static). They found-(static)." _came a marine's vice.

"_Say again, Recon?" _came Mary's voice. _"Your breaking up."_

_"There's something in the crater, Ma'am." _came the marine's voice again. _"Something beneath the storm," _

The storm? What was the marine talking about? It was quite cloudy but there was no sound or sight of distant thunder or lightning, even with the battle raging. Maybe the Covenant had done to the weather to create a storm so it could protect whatever it was they were digging.

The two warthogs turned left and drove on down the highway. However, they quickly found a destroyed section up ahead with part of their side pointing up into the air at a 45 degree angle. The two warthogs screeched to a halt.

Eve cursed silently and pounded a fist on the steering wheel of the warthog.

"So what do we do now?" she asked as she looked up at the destroyed section of the highway bridge.

"I'll go check and see how far the gap is," one of the marines on the other warthog said.

The marine jumped out of the back of the vehicle and ran down the highway towards the destroyed section. When he reached it, he ran up to the top and peered over the edge. After a moment, he turned and shouted to the crews of the others:

"It's alright, the gap's too small for a warthog to fall down through,"

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. They were not going to have to abandon their warthogs yet. Eve started her warthog's engine and drove towards the destroyed section. The other warthog followed. The marine that checked jumped from the top of the destroyed section onto the next part of the highway. Following close behind him were the two warthogs.

However, It seemed that Eve had thought too soon. As soon as the two warthogs came onto the next part of the highway, they were brought to a halt once again. Another obstacle was stopping them, only this time it was a few large concrete barricades. These barricades weighed at least ten tonnes, as they had steel girders reinforcing the concrete inside, and there was no way the warthog's were going to be able to move them, but what had they been placed her for?

Eve heaved an annoyed sigh and climbed out of the vehicle. She swore under her breath. These warthogs would get them to Voi quicker and now they had to leave them. For God's sake, this was starting to get really annoying!

Eve walked through the gaps between the barricades. When she passed the last one, she stopped. In front of her was the reason why they had been placed here. Another section of the bridge had been destroyed, leaving a twenty foot gap, only this time there was no raised section. A single steel girder, that was just wide enough for a normal person to walk down, stuck out of Eve's side of the highway and almost met with another girder that stuck out from the other side of the highway. Eve peered through the gap between the two sections and saw a pile of rubble lying on the ground about sixty feet below. Well, at least the barricades had not been left here for nothing.

Eve turned and walked back through the barricades to the marines, all of who had gotten out of the warthogs.

"We'll have to walk from here," she said. "The highway's been destroyed,"

A few marines groaned and cursed under their breaths. Eve felt the same way but they were just going to have to accept that the highway was gone and continue on to Voi. It was not like they could do anything about the highway.

After a few seconds, the sergeant spoke:

"You heard her, marines!" he barked. "Move out!"

Eve turned and ran through the barricades towards the steel girder; the marines followed. When she reached the girder, she stopped and breathed in. If she missed the next girder, she was dead. Eve jumped. For a moment, she was falling through the air. The girder she landed on was getting closer and closer. She _would_ land on it, she kept telling herself, she _would_ land on it.

Just about! Eve landed on the end of the girder that stuck out of the other section of the highway. Had she been just a mere inch from it, she would have fallen to her death. Eve ran up the steel girder back onto the concrete floor of the highway. The other marines, one after the other, jumped onto the girder and ran up it onto the concrete floor. As the last marine jumped, his foot suddenly slipped. The marine yelled and fell over the edge of the girder. His entire life flashed before his eyes. This was it. His time had come.

Then, a hand grabbed the back of the marine's uniform. The marine gasped in surprise and looked up. Eve was kneeling down on the edge of the highway. She had grabbed the marine just as he was about to fall out of reach. Eve lifted the marine back onto the highway and helped him up.

"Thanks, Eve," he said. "You're a life saver,"

"Alright," the sergeant announced. "We're just outside Voi. Not far now."

Further down the highway was a toll station that was situated between a rock hill and a grass covered canyon wall. Another tunnel had been built into the rock hill, only It's enormous blast door had closed over the entrance. The road that led from the door turned right slightly before it became a pathway. Scattered across the road were overturned vehicles or crates. The rock hill and the grass covered hill formed a wide valley for the road and then gradually grew thinner for the pathway.

The squad ran down the highway towards the toll station. As they reached it, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve-(static)." _came Mary's voice._ "Can you hear me? (static)"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"I read you, Mary," she replied.

"_Good," _Mary said as the static finally ended. _"Finally, I've got a good connection. Truth has excavated A Forerunner Artefact. We have to assume It's the Ark."_

_"Keep pushing on to the town of Voi, Eve," _came John's voice. _"Pelicans'll meet you in the next valley,"_

Eve lowered her hand from her ear. The squad were now approaching the toll station. Then…

"Die you big jerks!" a high pitched voice shouted.

A set of light green blasts flew out from behind an overturned car towards a crate a few metres in front of the tunnel's door. Three Grunts ran out from behind the car. The squad saw two marines return fire on the Grunts. One of them was hit and yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The last two Grunts ran past the car and headed towards the overturned front of a lorry.

"C'mon, we gotta help them," the sergeant ordered.

The sergeant ran ahead of the squad through the toll station towards the marines; the squad followed. One of the two marines saw them coming and waved at the squad as they approached them.

"Glad you guys could make it," he said as the squad reached him and his comrade.

"Are there any more of you?" the sergeant asked.

The marine nodded.

"Up there on the hill…" the marine pointed at a hill that was further down the valley to the left of the road. The hill was covered with large concrete cylinders. Two small cube shaped buildings rested at the top of the hill. "There's about three other marines up there,"

_"I hope I'm not disturbing your little reminiscence, but we could really use your help up here!" _came a woman's voice from the marine's radio.

A loud roar filled the air. The squad looked towards the hill and saw three large figures run up the hill towards the cube shaped buildings. Brutes. One of the Brutes fired a large green blast at one of the buildings. He was holding a fuel rod cannon. It exploded as it hit the side wall of the building, causing it to collapse. A cloud of dust filled the air. A barrage of bullets flew out of the building and hit the Brute's armour. The roared and stepped back a few paces as he loaded another shot into his weapon.

The squad ran down the road towards the hill. As they approached it, the two Grunts that were hiding behind the overturned front of a lorry fired on them. Eve was hit by one of the blasts, causing her shield to light up. She dived behind the car. She needed a weapon if she was going to help the soldiers here fight off the Covenant.

The sergeant raised his battle rifle and fired on the Grunts. Hitting and killing one of them. The other screamed and ran towards the hill, waving It's arms in the air in terror. Another marine fired on the fleeing Grunt, killing it.

Eve stood up from behind the car and joined the squad as they ran towards the hill. As Eve passed the body of the first Grunt that was killed, she grabbed It's plasma pistol. Now she could help the UNSC.

When the squad reached the bottom of the hill, they saw the Brute with the fuel rod cannon, who was wearing golden armour with a golden helmet with two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides of the helmet, fired another shot up at the buildings. It missed and exploded in the air about fifty feet above the building. The other two Brutes, who were wearing teal green armour and were armed with spikers, shouted something and fired a barrage of orange spikes up at the buildings. One of the marines was hit and yelled out as he fell to the ground. Another marine grabbed his wounded comrade and pulled him behind the wall of rubble.

The squad at the bottom of the hill fired on the Covenant soldiers. One of the teal green armoured Brutes was hit and roared in pain as he fell to the ground before he went quiet and lay still. The Brute with the fuel rod cannon shot round and fired a shot at the squad.

"GET BEHIND COVER!" the sergeant yelled.

The squad dived behind the nearby concrete cylinders as the blast hit the ground and exploded, throwing up a cloud of dirt and grass. The two Brutes hid behind a ring of concrete, that were the remains of a concrete cylinder, that was high at the back, which was facing the buildings, and low at the front, which was facing the UNSC squad. Eve, who was behind one of the concrete cylinders with the sergeant and three other marines, peeked her head out from behind the concrete cylinder, only to move it behind her cover a wave of orange spikes flew at the cylinder.

"We have to find a way to get past him," Eve said.

BOOM! Another green explosion filled the air, landing somewhere near the cylinder. One of the marines ran past Eve to have a look. Suddenly, a wave of orange spikes hit him in the chest. Blood flowed from the wound. The marine gasped for breath before he fell forward onto the ground, dead.

"At this rate, we'll never get past them," the sergeant growled.

"Wait a moment," one of the remaining two marines piped up.

He ran to the other end of the cyldinderand looked out from behind it. After a second, he ran back to the sergeant.

"There's good flanking position on the left of the Brutes' cover," the marine explained. "If me and Eve can sneak around, we can kill 'em,"

The sergeant nodded.

"Alright," he said. "You two go and flank those bear faced bastards. We'll keep 'em distracted for as long as we can,"

Eve nodded and joined the marine as they ran lefdt out from behind their concrete cover behind another concrete cylinder that had been blown in half. A few holes in the cylinder's walls provided a view of the two Brutes and the weak spots of their cover.

Eve and the marine reached their position on which they could fire on the Brutes. It was a small pile of concrete that would provide little protection if the Brutes spotted and fired on them; but it was in a good position on which the two could fire on them. The left side of the concrete circle was barely even half the height of what Eve and the marine were hiding behind. The two aliens were completely exposed. Eve and the marine aimed their weapons at the two creatures and pulled the triggers.

A barrage of bullets and light green blasts flew at the two brutes. The other Brute with teal green armour was hit repeatedly and fell to the ground, dead. The golden armoured Brute was also hit repeatedly but his armour was slightly stronger so it could withstand a barrage like this. However, the other marines quickly took the chance and fired a barrage of bullets at the Brute. The creature finally fell to the floor and lay still.

Eve and the marines ran out from behind their cover towards the cube shaped buildings. A female marine ran out to meet them. The sergeant and the marines ran into the building. One of the marines of Eve's squad tended to the wounded of the squad that had been taking cover in the building. There were three marines in the building, including the female marine.

"Thanks for the help," she said to Eve. "We thought we were goners,"

"It's okay," Eve replied. "How far are we from Voi?" she asked thr female marine.

"Not far," she replied. "Just on the other side of the hills at the end of the valley..." the female marine indicated down the valley were the path led to another bowl shaped area. "But Recon spotted Covenant armour up ahead. We've called for heavy weapons but we've got word of enemy phantoms roaming the skies around this area dropping reinforcements. We need to hold out until they arrive,"

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve eyes grew wide with fear.

"Get in the building!" she shouted.

Eve grabbed the female marine and pulled her into the cube shaped building. No sooner than a second passed before a barrage of red blasts flew down from the skies at the ground where the two had just been standing looked out through the building's entrance and saw a large shape hovering down towards the ground. It was a phantom. One of the cannons turned towards the building and fired another blast. Eve and the marines dived to the floor as it soared into the building's single room and hit the back wall. Thankfully, only a scorch mark was left on the wall. If it had collapsed, then the roof would probably cave in and bury the squad alive.

After a few seconds, Eve peeked her head out from behind the wall of rubble that had been the wall of the building and saw the sides of the craft open up. She expected a squad of Brutes to emerge from the craft. She was right, but not as she expected. The Brutes that emerged from the phantom had jump packs fitted onto their backs. Eve had only met these Brutes once and already she hated them because they were really hard to kill and were _very_ annoying, especially if it was more than one.

The Brutes, almost all of who were wearing blue armour and armed with plasma rifles, activated their jump packs hovered down onto the ground. There were five of them. Then, a sixth Brute landed in front of the jump pack squad. This Brute also had a jump pack on but was wearing red armour and was holding a spiker. This was not good at all. The squad was in for a hard fight.

"Kill the whelps!" the Brute at the front of the pack commanded. "Bring the demon's head to our holy prophet!"

The pack activated their jump packs and shot into the air, heading straight for the building. The phantom flew off into the sky and disappeared behind a small mountain "Open fire!" Eve ordered.

The squad aimed their weapons up and fired on the Brutes as they were descending from the air. One of the Brutes was hit repeatedly in the face and chest. Then, the creature fell forward in his fall and landed with a thud onto the ground. Another Brute landed next to him with a bleeding wound on his arm. The Brute raised plasma rifle to fire on the squad but Eve and another marine spotted him and fired on the Brute, killing him.

Suddenly, as Eve went to fire on another Brute that was attacking another marine, the Brute with red armour charged towards Eve and swung his spiker at her. The weapon struck her in the side of the face. Eve yelled out and fell to the floor, dropping her weapon. The other marines saw this and went to fire on the Brute but the other Brute squad members charged into the building and attacked them.

Eve groaned as she placed a hand on the side of her head. That really hurt like she had been struck with a metal club. Then, a red armoured hand grabbed her neck and lifted her up above the floor. Eve gasped for breath and saw her attacker as the Brute with red armour. The Brute clutched harder on Eve's neck and chuckled.

"Your head will be my prize, demon!" he said to her.

No! Eve was not going to be this Brute's prize. If he wanted her head, then he was going to have to fight her.

Eve brought back her foot and kicked the Brute in the stomach. The Brute roared in pain and, throwing his spiker to the floor, placed an arm across his armoured stomach. The blow hurt as if the Brute had been stabbed. However, moving his arm across his chest was a big mistake. Eve swung her fist at the Brute, hitting the creature in the cheek. The Brute, releasing his grip on Eve, flew to the floor, smacking his head on the metal, knocking the creature out cold.

Eve grabbed her weapon and the Brute's spiker and raised both at a Brute that was wrestling two marines for their weapons. She pulled the triggers. A wave of light green blasts and orange spikes flew at the creature. The Brute roared in pain as the combined strikes easily broke through the armour and embedded themselves in the creature's back. The Brute let out a weak groan before it fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

When the last of the Brutes had been killed lowered her weapons and looked towards the squad.

"Everyone alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," the sergeant groaned as he was helped up by another marine.

One marine had been killed. He had been thrown outside and had his head smashed against the wall of the building, killing him instantly. Eve saw his body lay in the now blood covered grass. She sighed. That was another marine dead. Every marine that was killed brought Humanity one step closer to defeat… and total annihilation.

"_This Bravo 018_. _Any UNSC forces request a heavy weapons drop, over?"_

"Roger Bravo 018," the female marine said into her radio. "We've got wounded we need you to take back to the medical centre. We'll keep pushing onto Voi,"

_"Roger that. I'm near your location. ETA three minutes." _

"WATCH OUT! WRAITH!"

BOOM! A blue explosion lit up the air, throwing the squad to the floor. Eve, who was lucky enough not to be in the blast radius, looked up. The marine that yelled was right. A large Covenant tank had stopped at the bottom of the hill and was facing the building's direction. A wraith. One vehicle that really was to pack a punch if anyone was to ever get into combat with it. Eve looked at the front. Oh great! Not only is a wraith here, they've now put a damn turret on the front of the vehicle! A Bute was piloting the turret.

_That'll make it really easy to destroy! _Eve thought sarcastically.

Suddenly, another mortar blast fired out of the top of the wraith. It's target; the building. The squad immediately dived or ran out of the building as the mortar blast hit the roof of the building. That was too much. The walls collapsed and the roof caved in. A huge cloud of dust was thrown into the air. Had the squad been inside when it collapsed, they would have been buried alive.

The Brute on the wraith's front turret laughed and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at the squad, mainly at Eve. She ran behind a concrete cylinder, narrowly missing a blast as it hit the ground near her foot.

Eve stood against the concrete cylinder. They had to destroy that wraith. Otherwise when the pelican got here, it was going to be shot out of the sky. It was also stopping them from continuing to Voi. It was the turret, though, that was causing the proble. Usually, Eve could have easily ran up to the wraith and attacked the Brute piloting it. The Covenant had strengthened that weakness, now making the wraith a more formidable foe.

Two marines ran up to the concrete cylinder and rested their backs against it.

"If we don't past that thing, we're stucvk here," one of the them said.

"We need to flank it," Eve replied as she moved to the end of the concrete cylinder.

She peeked her head out from behind her cover, only to move back behind the cylinder again as a barrage of blasts flew at her. One chipped the side of the cylinder, talking off a small chunk. The Brute then turned his turret towards another concrete cylinder, where another two marines were hiding, and fired on it.

Then, an idea popped into Eve's head.

"Do you guys have any grenades?" she asked the marines.

"Only one," one of the marines asked, taking it off his belt and handing it to Eve. "Why, what are you going to do?" he asked her.

"I'll try and flank the wraith. Just keep the turret distracted," Eve answered.

Eve ran past the marines and turned left behind another concrete cylinder. The marines ran to the end of the concrete cylidner and fired on the wraith. The two heard the Brute growl and fired a barrage of blasts at their cover.

Eve passed where she and the marine had killed the Brutes and ran behind one of the large crates that lay in the road. Eve, cautiously, crept towards the end and looked out. The Brute that was on the turret had not seen her. Good. Now she could destroy the wraith, but where was a weak spot? Then, she saw it. On the back of the wraith was a small circular section that had spinning blades inside it, making it look like a fan. Eve stood up and ran as quickly and quietly as she could over to the back of the wraith. When she reached it, she quickly checked the device. The fan-like blades inside it had some kind of small armour over the front of the circle. It was a good thing she had her weapons.

Eve raised her plasma pistol and pressed down on the trigger. A large green ball began to form up on the front of the weapon. Then, after a few seconds, Eve released her grip on the trigger. The shot flew out and easily smashed through the armour. The green blast fizzed away at the inside of the circle as if it were eating away at it before it finally disappeared. Eve pulled the pin off the grenade and threw it into the circle. Now it was time to run.

"Kill the demon!"

Suddenly, the wraith shot round, making Eve jump and fall to the ground. The Brute manning the turret ginned evily and aimed the turret towards her. Eve's eyes went wide. She wanted to run but she was rooted to the spot with fear. Even if she did run, the Brute could easily kill her. It looked like she was a goner. The Brute placed his fingers on the trigger of the turret and pressed down.

BOOM! An explosion erupted on the back of the wraith. A blue fire quickly engulfed the vehicle. BOOM! Another explsoion, smaller than the first, threw the Brute piloting the wraith into the air. The Brute manning the turret had his teal green armour set alight. The Brute, immediately, got out of the turret and started pounding the fire in order to put it out. The creature then fell off the side of the wraith and landed with a thud on the ground. He did not get up afterwards.

"Nice work, Eve," the sergeant shouted to her from behind his

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she got up. Her timing had saved her. Now with the wraith destroyed, they could continue on to Voi and meet up with Mary and John.

Suddenly, a growl filled the air. Then, a large figure with charcoal black armour around his chest and badly burnt shoulders and arms rasn out from behind the remains of the wraith. It was the brute that had been manning the turret. He was not happy at all. He had been humiliated by the demon. Well, he was not going to take it. He was going to kill her, slowly and painfully if necessary.

The Brute charged towards Eve. She went to run but stumbled backwards onto the floor. The Brute was getting closer. Eve could see the creature raising It's fists. If they hit her head, he could knock her out, or even kill her!

"AAHHH!"

The Brute was suddenly thrown sideways onto the ground. Eve gasped. What the hell had just killed him.

She got her answer when a large shape flew over the wraith's remains. Eve looked up and saw a pelican fly overhead. The two large metal pincers had hold of a warthog with a machine gun. Eve could just about see John standing in the back of the resting area. He was manning a deployable machine gun turret.

"Thought you might need some help," he called to Eve as the pelican hovered towards the ground.

Eve smiled as she stood up from the ground. She would have to thank John for saving her. Eve ran over to the pelican with the rest of the squad, two of who were carrying a wounded comrade. The metal pincers opened up. The warthog dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

"We'll take him back to the medical centre," John said as he and another marine helped the wounded marine onto the pelican.

When they had set him down on one of the seats he walked back to the resting area's entrance.

"We need you to secure the way onto the last stretch of highway before Voi," he said to the squad. "Eve, your leading the attack. Break through the Covenant defences. We'll meet you at the tunnel,"

"We'll need another warthog, sir," the femal marine said to John.

She got her request. Another loud thud erupted behind the squad. They lookd over their shoulders to see another pelican drop a warthog with passenger seats on the back.

"Good luck," John said to the squad as the pelican hovered into the air. "We'll see you at the gate,"

The pelican hovered into the air. When it was about thirty feet above the ground, the craft turned and flew south; the other pelican followed.

"We better get moving," Eve said.

Eve climbed into the driver's seat of the machine gun warthog. A marine climbed onto the machine gun turret whilst another marine climbed into the passenger seat. The rest of the marines climbed into the other warthog.

Eve started the warthog. The engine hummed loudly. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The tires screeched loudly as she drove the warthog down the pathway towards the large bowl shaped area up ahead. The other warthog followed closed behind.

The two vehicles entered the bowl shaped area. It was much wider and longer than the last two they had entered. There were two hills in this bowl shaped area, one in the middle and a rock hill that was near the right wall of the bowl, creating another thin pathway between it and the wall. Near the back of the bowl was another large metal cross shaped platform placed on the ground. A light blue/white haze was ascending into the air from the middle of the cross. Hovering about fifteen feet above the cross shaped platform was another circular platform with pillars. A Jackal with a beam rifle was standing on the platform Against the back hill of the bowl were a few small crates. Among the crates were a few Covenant Grunts with a Brute wearing dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet with flat topped horns. In front of the pile was a Covenant plasma turret on a stand. In the top right corner of the bow was a cave that led through the middle of a small rock hill. Where to, the squad hoped, was the next part of the Tsavo Highway.

As Eve drove the warthog into the bowl area, the marine on the machine gun turret placed his fingers on the weapon's trigger. The other warthog turned towards the thinner pathway between the rock hill and the side of the bowl. They were going to take the Covenant by surprise. Slowly, the two warthogs got into position. The Covenant were not even aware of the approaching danger. Even the Jackal was unaware. They were an easy target.

"Now!" Eve shouted all of a sudden.

The two warthogs charged full speed towards the Covenant forces. The marine on the machine gun turret aimed the weapon at the Jackal on the circular platform and fired. A barrage of bullets flew at the creature. The Jackal screeched loudly as it was hit. The platform even began to list slightly to the right as some of the bullets hit the platform. The Jackal, bleeding from the wounds to the chest and stomach, lost It's footing and fell backwards over the edge of the platform and landed on the ground. It did not rise afterwards.

"The demon is here!" one of the Grunts squeaked.

"Don't just stand there then, you whelp fools!" the Brute shouted at the Grunts. "Kill them!"

One of the Grunts ran towards the plasma turret. The marine in the passenger seat of Eve's warthog saw the creature and fired on it. The Grunt yelled loudly as it fell sideways to the ground, dead. The Brute growled and fired a barrage of red blasts from his brute plasma rifle at the warthog. One narrowly missed the marine's head and hit the steering wheel, almost hitting Eve's hand. Eve swerved the vehicle left, almost tipping the warthog over as it went up the side of the hill in the middle of the bowl. The marine on the machine gun turret aimed the weapon at the Brute.

Suddenly, the Brute was hit repeatedly by another barrage of bullets. The creature roared in pain as blood began to seep from the wounds before he fell to the ground, dead. The three remaining Grunts screamed in panic and fled towards the cave in an attempt to escape. They failed as the barrage of bullets flew at them, killing all three of them.

The other warthog drove out from behind the rock hill.

"C'mon, guys," the driver shouted to Eve's warthog. "There's more of 'em to kill,"

Eve reversed the warthog left so the front was facing the cave before driving it forward towards the cave after the other warthog. The other warthog entered the cave and turned right. Eve drove after them.

"Where do you think this cave leads to?" the marine in the passenger seat of Eve's warthog asked.

"Hopefully to the next part of the Tsavo Highway," Eve replied. "If it does then we can meet up with Mary and John,"

As the two warthogs came out of the cave, they found themselves on the top of a steep raised bit of ground that led down to, what the squad breathed a sigh of relief of, another section of the Tsavo Highway. Like the last part they had seen before they entered the bowl area, this part of the highway came from a closed tunnel door, at the right end of the highway section, that led into the small mountain, probably linking up with the other blocked off section of the highway. The left end of the highway was destroyed but the squad could see the destroyed section lay against the side of a small hill the left end of the highway was built on. The next part of the highway was visible on another wide hill in the middle of a plateau that was overlooking an enormous area of landscape that looked like a crater. The highway turned left in the middle of the plateau and disappeared behind the side of a large rock hill.

"There they are!" a deep voice shouted.

The two warthogs suddenly came under fire as a group of three Brutes, all wearing teal green armour, ran out of a small cube shaped building on the right side of the highway. The marines returned fire on the Brutes, hitting and kiling one of them.

Then, the other two ran towards two choppers parked nearby. The squad quickly saw the danger they were going to be in and fired on the Brutes. Another was hit repeatedly and fell to the ground, dead. However, the other one managed to reach one of the choppers. The Brute jumped into the chopper's seat and activated it. The vehicle hovered a few inches up from the ground. The Brute turned his vehicle towards the two warthogs and began firing a barrae of blasts at them. The passenger warthog was hit and, because the blasts were so powerful, almost tipped over. The marines fired desperately on the chopper but It's thick armour and wide front protected the Brute and the internal systems of the craft.

Eve slammed her foot down on her warthog's accelerator, causing the vehicle to shoot forward like a bullet. When it passed the other warthog, Eve turned the vehicle right and drove towards the chopper. She… she was going to crash into it!"Hang on!" she shouted to the two marines over the noise of the engine and the firing blasts.

CRASH! The warthog smashed into the side of the Brute's chopper, tipping it over on It's side. The Brute yelped panicky and pushed the chopper's controls forward to maximum speed. The chopper shot forward away from the warthog. The Brute laughed at his enemies, only to find he was heading to the side of the mountain.

The Brute saw this and yelled in panic, but before he could do change the chopper's path, the vehicle hit the mountain's side. The chopper, literally, went up the side of the mountain and flew into the air. Gravity quickly pulled the vehicle back towards Earth, bringing it down with a loud crash as it landed on It's front. The vehicle seemed to disintegrate as it collided with the tarmac, throwing large pieces of metal in every direction. When the Brute's seat hit the tarmac, the Brute fell onto the tarmac. The creature groaned in pain and rubbed the side of his head. The marine on the machine gun turret of Eve's warthog aimed his weapon at the Brute and fired hitting the creature in the head, killing him.

With the highway patrol dealt with, Eve looked out at the next section of the highway. Her eyes followed it behind the rock hill as if she could see through the rock. That was it. That highway led to the entrance to Voi. All they had to d was get to it.

Eve drove the warthog left towards the destroyed section of the highway. The other warthog drove after them. Eve pressed her foot down on the brake as her warthog neared the top of the destroyed section of the highway, bringing to a halt at the top. The other warthog stopped alongside them.

"This is the way to Voi," Eve said as she scanned the scene in front of the two warthogs.

The wide hill went underneath the next part of the highway. A raised section looked like it joined up alongside the highway. If it did, then that was where they had to get to to continue to Voi. However, it was going to be possible that the Covenant were going to be defending this area to stop any UNSC from getting to the town.

"Mount up," she ordered. "We're most likely going to be in for a fight with any Covenant patrols,"

Eve started the warthog. The engine hummed. Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog moved forward and fell down from the highway onto the destroyed section. The vehicle slid down to the bottom. The other warthog did the same, only it almost fell over the side of the small hill and did a 180 degree turn as it landed on the hill.

Suddenly, a large vehicle shot out from behind the right side of the wide hill. It was a chopper, again being piloted by a Brute. The chopper stopped about fifty feet from Eve's warthog. The marines saw the enemy vehicle. Then another chopper followed the first out from behind the hill and stopped in line next to it. Followed by a third and then, finally, a fourth. The four choppers fromed a line facing the warthogs like a line of death waiting to kill the marines.

"FIRE!" the Brute driving the first chopper roared all of a sudden.

A barrage of deadly and powerful blasts flew at the warthogs. Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator of her warthog, causing the vehicle to shoot forward like a bullet towards the wide hill. However, one of the blast hit the back of the vehicle, sending it into a wild spin. The vehicle hit the hill with a loud crash, throwing Eve and the two marines with her to the ground. The marines in the other warthog fired their weapons a the choppers, hoping to destroy them or at least make them flee.

Eve groaned as she got up from the ground. The warthog had been tipped on It's side. The other two marines, who lay nearby, groaned as they got up from the ground.

"You two okay?" Eve asked them.

"Yeah," the marines answered in unison.

Eve turned to face the warthog and looked the vehicle. The turret was still attached to the warthog's stand but it may not work. They would have to worry about that in a minute. Eve looked at the other warthog and saw it driving around eratically to avoid the deadly blasts. They had to do something or six marines were going to be killed.

Eve placed her hands on the warthog and pushed with all her strength. The vehicle slowly listed right before it finally fell back on It's wheels. Eve quickly jumped onto the warthog's turret and fired away at the chopper's, hitting one of the middle ones. The armour was strong but was no match against the power of the warthog's machine gun barrage. The front armour of the vehicle was torn apart, exposing the weak spinning metallic tire-like object in the middle of the circular section of the chopper. Eve fired on the spinning object.

BOOM! The metallic tire-like object exploded, taking the rest of the vehicle with it. Large chunks of metal were thrown in all directions, most hitting the other choppers. The body of the Brute that had been piloting the vehicle was thrown onto the Brute piloting the chopper next to him on the left. The Brute fell out of the chopper, his foot striking the controls and jamming them in place. The now unmanned chopper hit the side of the chopper on the far left end of the line. The Brute manning this one roared in surprise and fell out of his seat onto the ground. Eve aimd the warthog's turret at the two Brutes and fire on them, killing them both. The Brute driving the last chopper roared at Eve and turned his warthog right and drove off behind the hill.

"Nice one, Eve," the sergeant said as the other warthog pulled up alongside.

"Thanks," Eve replied as she climbed off the turret onto the ground. "Okay, we need to get up on the highway. Voi should be just around the corner."

The marine driving the other warthog nodded and drove off behind the hill. Eve climbd into her warthog's driving seat whilst the other two marines got in the passenger seat and on the turret. Eve started the warthog and reversed away from the wall befoe driving after the other warthog behind the hill. However, when they came around to the other side of the hill, Eve slammed her foot down on the brake, causing the warthog to skid to a halt. The reason;

Thirty feet ahead of the vehicle was the chopper that had been in line with three others just moments earlier. However, it was not alone, but this time it was not other choppers supporting their comrade. It was a wraith. However, for the moment, the two vehicles were firing on the other warthog that was driving around eratically underneath a small gap underneath highway to avoid the deadly blasts being thrown at them.

"Get ready to fire on them," Eve whispered to the marine on the turret. "Make sure you hit the circle on the back of the wraith,"

The marine nodded and aimed the turret at the wraith. That was the first target. Once the wraith was destroyed, they could easily deal with the chopper. The marine placed a finger on the trigger.

Suddenly, the warthog shook wildly as a blast struck the side of it. Eve was shocked as much as the marines. Where the hell had that come from? They got their answer when a large object at the top of the hill caught their gaze. It was a large ball-like device with two huge silo cannons sticking out of a large armour shield on the front of the device. The sides and back of the device had no armour as the front did. The entire device was hovering a few inches above a circular platform placed on the ground. A grunt was manning the turret. This was the Covenant's new upgrade to the Shade turret, only the cannons fired twice as fast and could move more quicker.

The marine on the warthog's turret aimed the weapon up at the shade turret and fired. The bullets hit the armour but did not penetrate it as easy as they had done with the armour on the choppers. The Grunt laughed and fired another barrage of blasts at the warthog.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog shot forward, narrowly missing one of the blasts. However, the two Covenant vehicles had still not noticed the enemy vehicle behind them.

CRASH! Eve's warthog slammed into the back of the chopper. The Brute driving the vehicle roared in pain as the seat was pushed up against the chopper's controls. The strike also sent the vehicle shooting forward before turning sideways and flipping over on It's die. The Brute, with purple blood now stained across his chest, was thrown onto the ground. The passenger marines in the other warthog fired on the creature, killing him.

The wraith turned towards Eve's warthog, which had driving forward several metres from where the chopper was, and fired a blast at the vehicle. The back of the warthog was lifted several feet into the air but managed to stay on It's wheels. Eve swerved the vehicle left, making it do a 180 degree turn so the front was now facing the wraith again. The marine on the turret fired on the wraith. The bullets, however, did little damage to the vehicle's newly reinforced armour and the wraith only responded by firing another mortar blast at the vehicle, which Eve avoided by driving left.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. They could not keep on doing this forever! They had to get to Voi but as long as the wraith was here, there was no way that was going to happen. Looks like she was going to have to deal with this one on foot once again.

"Take the wheel," Eve said to the marine in the passenger seat before jumping out of the vehicle and running towards the wraith with both her weapons in her hands.

The wraith fired a shot at Eve but missed by several feet. The blast exploded on the ground behind her. Eve was relieved that shot missed but her luck would not last forever. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She looked as though she was in a marathon. She ahd to get to the wraith and destroy or she and the marines would be dead.

Eve finally reached the wraith. She jumped onto one of the triangle sections sticking out of the front of the wraith and grabed hold of the end of the turret and pulled herself up onto the top of the wraith. The hatch to the craft was right behind the turret. Eve pulled herself up to the hatch and grabbed hold of it and pulled it open. The Brute roared in surprise and looked up to see his people's mortal enemy above him. Eve aimed her weapons into the cog pit and fired a barrage of light green blasts and orange spikes at the Brute. The creature's helmet was no match for the barrage and his head thudded forward onto the control panel, dead. Eve jolted slightly as the wraith deactivated and fell onto the ground.

A blast hit the back of the wraith. Eve looked up and saw the Covenant shade turret aiming at her. Eve grabbed hold of the wraith's controls and activated the vehicle again. She turned the vehicle towards the shade turret and pressed down on the control that fired the main cannon. A mortar blast shot out of the wraith and flew towards the shade turret.

BOOM! The turret was blown apart as the mortar blast hit it. The Grunt that had been manning the turret screamed as it flew through the air, landing several metres from where the turret had been.

Finally, they could get to Voi and meet up with Mary and John.

As Eve jumped from the wraith, she noticed the large crater and it immediately caught her fll attention. Her eyes went wide. Eve, as if she was in a trance, walked over to the egde of the plateau. The entire crater had once been filled with earth but the Covenant, like Mary had explained earlier on in the base, had dug all of it up. What they had revealed, as Eve had also heard through radio transmissions between marines and Mary, was an enormous metallic circle-like object that must have been at least seventy miles in width and length, maybe even more. Far off in the distance, Eve could also, just about, see the smoking ruins of New Mombassa. A few Covenant ships were still flying over the crater, firing glassing beams down onto the dirt to destroy it. If they were still uncovering it, then it was definitely going to be bigger then seventy miles. In the air above the entire circle object was an enormous circular cloud storm. A lightning strike lit up the sky, illuminaing the darkness below it. Eve quickly managed to catch sight of the large chrome coloured, pyramid-like ship in the middle of the metallic circle.

"Hey, Eve," the marine driving the machine gunned warthog called as he pulled up near her. "C'mon, let'g go,"

Eve climbed into the passenger seat of the warthog. The marine drove up the side of the hill onto the highway. The other warthog followed close behind. Eve looked down the highway and saw it turn left behind another part of the rock hill.

"Voi's entrance should be down there," she said, nodding her head in that direction.

The marine driving the vehicle nodded and drove down the highweay towards the turning. The other warthog followed. When the two vehicles reached the turning, they turned left into the part of the highway. Suddenly, the two vehicles came to a screeching halt. Pretty much everyone either groaned or swore.

About twenty feet ahead of them were several large purple barricades that were blocking the road. Great! These Covenant barricades were like the UNSC concrete barricades, only they were lighter but were still as much as of a pain. Luckily, though, the entrance to a tunnel built into another small mountain was about one hundred feet ahead.

Eve sighed and climbed out of the warthog.

"Well at least we're there," she said.

Some of the marines groaned in agreement. However, the marine on the machine gun turret just stared ahead with with eyes. Eve noticed this.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Look ahead," he replied.

Eve looked towards the tunnel. She could see only the tunnel door, a small cube shaped building, a few overturned trucks and cars and another pillar with a hologram of Truth above it. So, what big deal was th-wait a minute.

Then, her eyes going wide, she saw what the marine was staring at. About fifteen feet in front of the tunnel door, stuck on a small patch of grass on the far left side of the highway up against the rock wall, was a crashed pelican. The remains were a mess. The wings were bent, one being fully ripped off the craft, the cog pit was crushed and smoking and the rear engines and back wing of the craft was all twisted and broken.

Eve ran forward towards the pelican's remains. There was a threat that the Covenant who had set up the barricades were still lurking about but she did not care. She had to see if there were any marines alive in the craft and make sure they were okay.

When Eve reached the craft, she looked inside the cog pit. It was smashed up pretty bad but there was no one in there. Okay, what about the resting area? Eve ran around the craft to the back and peered in. Three marines were lying dead on the floor. One had his helmet next to him and Eve could just about see a small dent in his head, probably where it had smashed against the metal wall of the resting area. Eve was worried. She had seen three dead marines but where were the pilots? Had they been buried under the wreckage in the crash or had they managed to flee?

"Tell us where your commander is?" a deep voice shouted.

Eve shot round so she was facing the cube shaped building. The building had two entrances. One on the front and one on the left side. Eve could just about see three large figures standing in the building. Kneeling against the wall in front of them were two smaller figures. They looked like… marines!

"Tell us or we will cut you in two!" one of the Brutes shouted at the marines.

The marine replied but Eve could not hear him. She had to help them or they were going to die!Eve crept forward towards the cube shaped building, keeping low so the Brutes did not see her. As she came closer, one of the Brutes's deep voices filled the air once again

"You whelp!" he shouted

A cry of pain filled the air as the Brute struck the marine around the head with his armoured hand. The other two Brutes cackled with laughter. Eve felt a sudden jolt of anger go through her. They were hurting a fellow marine… and laughing. She had to stop them.

As Eve reached the wall next to the entrance, she moved her head slightly so she could just about see two of them wearing dark blue armour with dark blue helmets. The last Brute was wearing thick, shiny, dark red armour with a huge dark red helmet that looked like the upper jaw of some predator. It had a large weapon attached to some kind of unseen clip on It's back. The Brute wearing dark red armour suddenly grabbed one of the marines on his uniforms and held him several feet above the floor.

"You may have survived your ships' crash but can you survive my brutality?" the Brute growled at he creature, an evil smile forming on her face.

The marine gasped for breath at the shock that the Bruter was about to kill him. The creatures only laughed. The other two joined in. The other marine looked helplessly up at his friend. The red armoured Brute raised the marine higher into the air. He was going to smash him into the floor! Eve felt anger fill her heart once again. She had to save him!

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

A barrage of gunfire filled the air. The two dark blue armoured Brutes were hit and roared in pain as they fell to the floor, dead. The red armoured Brute dropped the marine as a bullet hit him in the shoulder. However, a small white haze lit up on his armour. Damn! He had an armoured shield! The Brute faced the entrance and saw Eve standing there with her weapon rasied, aiming directly at him.

"You will die for threatening our Great Journey, demon!" he growled at her.

Immediately, the Brute whipped out the weapon on the back of his armour and fired a shot at Eve. She duck, narrowly missing the shot as it soared over her head and exploded on the ground. He had a Brute shot. Not good but at least it was not a gravity hammer.

The two marines in the building quickly scrambled out of the building and ran past Eve, narrowly missing aother shot as it exploded on the floor behind them. Eve fired another burst of ammo at the Brute, causing his shield to light up again, before running with the marines towards the barricades.

"Thanks, Eve," one of them said as she caught up with them.

"Yeah, you're a life saver," the other added.

Suddenly, a sharp pain hit Eve in the back. She screamed out and fell to the floor before passing out. The two marines she was with skidded to a halt and grabbed her to try and pull her to safety. However, another shot flew at the marines, hitting one of them in the chest. The marine fell backwards onto the floor, dead. Another shot hit the ground a few inches behind the other marine, blowing off a small chunk on his leg. The marine yelled out and fell to the floor, clutching his leg.

Eve stirred. Her eyes slowly opened. She tried to remember what had happened. She had saved the two marines… been running with them towards the barricades… and then been hit in the back by a grenade from the Brute shot. She looked down at her wrist just to see her holographic meter appear above her wrist. The level in the bar was empty and flashing red.

A large figure walked over to Eve. It was the Brute, his weapon was aimed at her. His finger was resting on the trigger. The Brute kicked his weapons, which she had dropped a few feet from where she was lying when she fell to the ground. He laughed at Eve.

"It is time for you to die, demon!" he said to her.

The Brute loaded another shot into his Brute shot and aimed the weapon at Eve's chest, directly at her heart. Eve went wide-eyed as she stared down the barrel of the weapon. A grenade was quickly going to come shooting out of the gun and hit her in the head, no doubt killing her. It looked like it was all over for her.

.

.

Suddenly,

"ROOOOAAARRR"

The Brute was suddenly hit by a barrage of bullets. His shield was quickly disabled and the barrage easily penetrated the armour. Eve stared in shock as purple blood poured from the wounds. The Brute, finally, let out a weak roar and fell backwards onto the ground, dead.

A large shape flew into Eve's Peripheral a second later. Eve looked up and saw the shape was a pelican. Standing in the back of the resting area was John. He was waving an arm at Eve. She breath a relieved smile and stood up from the ground.

"_Are you okay, Eve?" _came Mary's voice as the pelican hovered towards the ground, making it obvious she was driving it.

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear_._

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," she replied.

"Thought you might need some help," John shouted over to her.

Eve chuckled slightly as she lowered her hand. The marines, two helping the wounded marine, ran past her towards the pelican. Another pelican hovered down towards the ground and dropped a warthog armed with a machine gun.

"_Lord Hood,"_ Mary said. _"We made it," _

_"Music to my ears, commander," _came Hood's voice. _"What about the Ark?" _he asked with a concerned tone.

"_Fully uncovered, sir," _Mary answered.

"_Then we don't have much time," _Hood said.

Eve picked up her weapons and walked towards the tunnel door.

"_Marines," _Hood said. _"The Prophet of Truth doesn't know it yet, but he's about to get kicked right off his throne… _(_I'll be happy to do that _Eve thought)… _We will take back out city. And drive our enemy into the grave they've been so happily digging. One final effort is all that remains," _

"Oo-rah!" the marines chanted as they loaded their weapons or climbed into the pelican.

Eve walked over towards the left side of the highway, which was just a few metres from the edge of the crater. She saw an enormous shape fly overhead. She looked up and saw it was an assault carrier.

"All units!" the sergeant boomed. "Pile into the warthogs,"

Eve turned and walked towards the machine gun warthog, which was next to two passenger warthogs. They had fouth their way to Voi. Now, they were going to take it back.


	6. The storm

**One hour later**

It had been a busy and on-going hour for the squad. After the tunnel entrance had been secured, the squad, that had taken it back from the Covenant, had to wait for ammo, after the warthogs arrived, and fighter support so the pelicans could keep bringing in any reinforcements for the attack Mary had planned on the Covenant in Voi.

In the tunnel, two passenger warthogs and a warthog with a machine gun drove towards the exit into Voi. Eve was sitting in the passenger seat of the machine gun warthog. About one hundred metres ahead of her, the exit out of the tunnel into Voi was getting closer.

_"Eve,"_ came Mary's voice from the radio in her ear. _"The Prophet of Truth has found the Ark. Our only chance of stopping him is a surprise aerial assault. Clear this sector of anti-air defences. Make a hole for the Admiral's ships. Good luck. McCrea out."_

Eve let out a quiet smirk through her nose. Already she was given her orders and she had not even started fighting the Covenant yet. She checked her battle rifle, having dumped the spiker and the plasma pistol at the tunnel entrance when the warthogs set off, to make sure It's ammo clip was full. It was. Eve looked up and saw the tunnel exit just a few metres ahead.

The warthog convoy emerged from the tunnel into a large parking lot. Ahead of them was a large rectangular building that stuck out of the side of another long rectangular building that went along the left side of the parking lot. Half of the rectangular building, or probably even more than that, was missing because the Covenant had most likely glassed the town and the ground between it and the city of New Mombassa. Half of the parking lot itself was even missing. Scattered around the parking lot were several destroyed cars as well as a few destroyed warthogs and even the bodies of a few marines and Grunts. A battle had obviously taken place here. The Covenant must have been driven off, but how far away was the question.

A crack of thunder filled the air, followed by a few spots of water falling from the cloud covered sky. It had begun to rain. The storm that was raging above the Ark seemed to be spreading over the entire area.

The warthogs stopped a few metres from a large concrete square shaped platform that rose up from the ground by about six feet. Two small ramps were on It's sides. The platform had been built in front of a large blast door that led inside the rectangular building that stuck out of the rectangular building that was on the left side of the parking lot.

The marines climbed out of the warthog. There were three in the passenger warthog in front of the machine gun warthog and another three in the other passenger warthog at the back of the convoy. The marines in Eve's warthog stayed where they were. They were probably going to follow the squad through the building to the other side. Eve got out of the passenger seat and ran up the ramp onto the top of the platform. The squad followed.

"Ready when you are, Eve," a marine said as he knelt down near her and raised his weapon. "Open the door and take point. We'll cover you,"

Eve nodded and walked over to the wall. On the wall was a large green button. When she reached it, she rested a hand on the button. A loud unlocking sound filled the air. Then, a break in the door appeared vertically down the middle. Eve ran over to the door and raised her weapon. The door's two sections now moved away from each other into the wall and disappeared from sight.

Eve, her vigilance level at It's height, walked into a large square shaped room with a flight of stairs along the wall opposite her leading up to a railing walkway that was attached to the wall about fifteen feet above the floor. On the wall directly below the middle of the walkway was another large blast door, big enough for a warthog to fit into that was closed. A red light was on the wall above it, signalling it was locked. Next to the walkway, also about half-way down it directly above the door on the wall below, was another doorway that was empty, leading into another room. Eve could only see the smashed window ceiling in the next room. Scattered along the walls of her room was a few weapons racks that were either laying on the floor or placed in piles in the corners of the room. On the floor a few feet from the ground floor metallic door was another Covenant pillar. Truth's hologram was hovering a few inches above the white circle. Again, he was preaching about this 'Great Journey'.

**"With my gentle encouragement, our lords' holy relic springs to life."** he was saying. **"It is unfortunate that our enemies will also bear witness to It's glory. But soon their dull eyes will be closed; searched by the Rings' unforgiving might," **

Eve growled and stormed over to the pillar and kicked the pillar as hard as she could. The device was hit so hard that it was broken in two and launched across the room. It hit the wall hard, emitting a loud thud. The remains fell to the floor.

Eve was really mad. She was really starting to get pissed off with these damn pillars with Truth's hologram preaching about this stupid 'Great Journey'! She was really going to make him pay when she got to him, even if she had to kill every damn Covenant soldier that got in her way.

Eve calmed down after a few seconds. She should not have done that, she was just really angry. Every time she heard Truth preach about this 'Great Journey' it made here angry because it only reminded her how much death and destruction Truth had inflicted on Earth, the UNSC, and even on his own troops because of his belief in the Covenant becoming gods and him poisoning their minds with this crap. Eve heaved a heavy sigh. Truth was much like other leaders Earth itself had witnessed in It's inhabitants' violent past. A leader filled with such belief in something would end up causing death and destruction on people and nations, no matter how big or small it was, only to be destroyed by a demise of their own making. That was what could happen to Truth but the question was; was mankind, and possibly even every living being in the galaxy, going to be sacrificed in the attempt?

"Hey Eve," one of the marines said as he and the rest of the squad walked into the room, their weapons raised. "Is the room clear," he asked.

Eve nodded.

"Yeah," she replied. "I don't know about the next room so stay alert,"

The marines nodded. Eve ran over to the stairs. When she reached them, she ran up them onto the walkway. She stopped next to the doorway and peered inside the next room. The room was much like the one she and the squad were in now. It was square shaped with another railing walkway going across, only turning left behind the edge of the wall to a flight of stairs, and had a few weapons racks piles scattered everywhere. However, this time, there was another large blast door on the wall opposite Eve that led into a large half-cylinder shaped section of the room that looked like a tunnel. Near the upper right corner of the room was a large raised section of floor, about four feet high, that led around behind the wall, that came out from the half-cylinder section of the room, with two metal pillars holding it up. The raised section of floor probably led around to a side entrance to the tunnel, if that is what it was.

Eve raised her battle rifle and, cautiously, walked onto the walkway. The room seemed empty. The Covenant must have fled further into Voi after the battle outside the building. Eve walked down the walkway and rounded the corner towards the stairs.

"DEMON!"

Eve screamed out and fell back onto the stairs as a Grunt, which had been sitting at the bottom of the stairs, ran from the stairs towards the raised section of floor. As Eve got up, two large figures ran out from under the stairs and skidded to a halt at the bottom of them. They were Jackals armed with Covenant carbines, another type of Covenant sniper only not as bad as the beam rifles. One of them screeched loudly and raised It's carbine and fired at Eve, causing her suit's shield to light up.

Eve scrambled up the stairs to the top and dived behind the wall, narrowly avoiding a few other shots from the Jackals' carbines. Eve stood up and blind fired a burst of ammo down the stairs at the Jackals. A loud screech filled the air, followed by a thud. That was one down. Just one more to g-

"Kill the demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve looked down at the room's raised section of floor, where the voice came from and saw a Brute wearing teal green armour run out from behind the wall. In his hand and raised up at her was a spiker. Following the Brute was a squad of four Grunts.

The Brute fired a wave of range spikes at Eve. She dived to the walkway floor, narrowly avoiding having her head sliced apart by the spikes. The Grunts fired up at the walkway as if their blasts would break through it. Thankfully, they did not.

"Do not waste your ammo, you fools!" the Brute shouted at the Grunts. "Follow me and we will kill her!"

"Yeah. Let's kill the demon!" one of the Grunts squeaked in agreement.

The Brute and the Grunts ran off the raises section of floor across the room towards the bottom of the stairs. Eve got up and pressed her back against the wall. She had to find a way to kill them all at once. Otherwise, if they were to be fighting a long battle then by the time they had defeated this group, the Covenant would have most likely activated the Ark. If that happened, then Earth, every being in the galaxy, they were all going to die.

As the Brute and his squad of Grunts reached the bottom of the stairs, Eve peeked her head and her hands out from behind the wall and fired a burst of ammo at the Brute. A loud roar filled the room. Eve watched as the Brute fell backwards down the stairs, his head slamming hard against the wall as he hit the bottom. Purple blood poured from the wounds onto the floor.

"Let's get outta here!" one of the Grunts screamed.

The squad ran back past the stairs towards the raised section of floor. The Jackal screeched something at them, probably meaning "Get back here and fight!" or "You are nothing but cowards!" Eve aimed her battle rifle at the creature and fired another burst of ammo at it. The bullets easily broke through the Jackal's vest and embedded themselves in It's chest, killing it.

As Eve walked out from behind the wall, a barrage behind her made her jump. She shot round to see the marines lined up along the walkway. They were firing down at the Grunts. Eve ran to the bottom of the steps and over to the raised section of floor, passing four Grunts, all of whom had been killed in the barrage.

"I'll open the door, Eve," one of the marines said as the squad ran down the steps onto the room's floor.

Eve nodded and jumped onto the raised section of the floor. She ran around the wall onto a floor that led to a hole in a long tunnel in the cylinder section of the building. Eve walked over to the hole and jumped down onto the floor. The tunnel had a silver ceiling with large fans built into the walls along both sides. Behind her was the blast door that led into the square shaped room where the squad was. Ahead of her at the other end of the tunnel was another blast door that most likely led into another room. If there were any Covenant on the other side of the blast door at the other end of the tunnel, Eve could not tell.

_"Okay, Eve,"_ a marine's voice said from her ear radio. _"The warthog's in the room with us. We'll just open the door. See you in a sec,"_

The door opened. However, Eve went wide-eyed. The reason; it was not the door behind her that had opened. It was the one at the other end of the tunnel. What was worse, it was the Covenant that had opened it. A lot of Covenant.

The Covenant squad was made up of two Brutes, both armed with Brute shots wearing dark blue armour and dark blue helmets, five Jackals with their shields activated and at least ten Grunts, all of whom were armed with plasma pistols or needlers.

"The demon!" one of the Brutes shouted, pointing ahead.

Eve gasped and stepped back a pace. One of the Brutes laughed.

"She's on her own," he said. "Let us kill her so she can become another great victory for us on this cesspool planet!"

The rest of the Grunts growled or smiled in agreement. Eve gulped and watched as the Covenant squad raised their weapons, all aimed directly at her. In just a moment's time, a wall of blasts and grenade shots was going to come flying at her. Her shield would stand no chance of withstanding the barrage and her battle rifle was going to do any damage, let alone probably even be raised half-way before she would be dead.

Eve closed her eyes and waited for the end.

It never came.

All of a sudden, the air was filled with the screams of dying Covenant. Eve opened one eye, then both in shock to see the Covenant squad falling to the floor, either dead or dying. They were being killed by a barrage of bullets that were coming from behind. Eve turned to see the warthog in the now open doorway. The marine on the turret was firing away down the tunnel. A few other marines from the squad were also firing down the tunnel at the Covenant.

After a few seconds, the barrage ceased. Eve turned to face the other end of the corridor. All of the Covenant in the squad had been killed. The blast door they had opened led into a small square shaped room with a few ghosts on the floor along the right wall. Near the upper left corner of the small square shaped room was a doorway that was big enough for a warthog to drive through. On the wall next to the door was another green button.

"We can use those ghosts," Eve said. "If there's any Covenant outside, we'll be able to break through their defences,"

A few of the marines nodded in agreement. Eve ran down the tunnel towards the square shaped room at the end. When they reached it, Eve ran over to the green button and rested a hand on it. The door opened automatically, moving into the wall, disappearing from sight. It led back outside. Eve then turned and ran back over to the ghosts and climbed into one and activated it. The ghost hovered several feet up from the floor. Eve pushed the controls forward lightly. The ghost hovered through the doorway back to the outside world.

Eve found herself on a concrete pathway that went along the side of the building to another large concrete block that stuck out of the right side of the rectangular building that stretched on ahead from the tunnel into Voi. Scattered across the concrete block were several large metallic crates and small buildings. At the far end of the concrete block, in the upper left corner next to another rectangular building that stuck out of the side of the long rectangular building was another raised concrete platform, again about four feet high. On the wall next to the block was another blast door that led into the next rectangular building. Sticking out about half-way from the middle of the large concrete block was a long metallic pathway built on a stretch of earth about twenty feet wide and fifty feet high. At the end of the pathway was a cube shaped building. Scattered along the pathway were several lifeboats and their equipment as well as a few metal rods for scaffolding. About fifteen feet down the concrete block, either side of the metallic pathway, were two large metallic ramps that went down to the dark brown/green coloured earth about fifty feet from the top of the concrete block. Sticking out of the bottom of the earth that held up the pathway and building was a large purple coloured pipe that went across the ground for about twenty feet before being cut off about thirty feet from the edge of an enormous cliff of earth that led went down what looked like several hundred, or probably even a few thousand feet, to a large curved/hill-like surfaced ground near the edge of the Ark.

This was what Voi was built for. It was mainly a port town. The ground that was far below from the concrete block was where the edge of a large lake would be, which would lead all the way over to New Mombassa's northern seaports. Any raw materials or natural resources from Earth or other colonized planets would land in New Mombassa's resource airfield, whose workers would then take the goods to the port and from there it was shipped to Voi and then taken to other towns and cities around Kenya, Tanzania and any other neighbouring countries. The lake must have dried up completely when the Covenant started glassing the city and the surrounding area.

Eve turned her ghost left and hovered down the concrete pathway towards the large concrete block. The rest of the squad followed close behind in the warthog or on foot, one following behind Eve in another ghost. As they approached the concrete block, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

_"Kilo 23, this is Forward Unto Dawn."_ came Hood's voice. _"I need a sit-rep, Commander."_

_"Atmospheric disturbances is intensifying above The Artefact, Admiral."_ came Mary's voice.

Eve looked out through the side of the ghost at the storm raging above the Ark. The atmospheric disturbances were probably being caused by it and it was probably growing stronger.

_"Where is Eve's location, Commander?"_ Hood asked.

_"She's about half-way through Voi, near the first Covenant anti-air battery," _Mary replied. _"She's moving as fast as she can, sir. I know she'll get it done,"_

As soon as Mary finished speaking, as if on cue, a large green blast shot out from behind the building on the end into the air. The squad watched as the blast flew through the air and narrowly missed hitting a small UNSC fighter that hovered over the building before descending behind it.

"That's the target!" the marine in the ghost behind Eve shouted to her. "If we destroy it, we can get some support and begin clearing the town!"

As the squad came onto the concrete block, a barrage of blasts flew at them. Ahead of them, taking cover behind the remains of a car was a Brute wearing dark blue armour with a dark blue helmet. With him were three Grunts. The Brute fired a grenade from his Brute shot at the squad, narrowly missing eve's ghost but hitting the marine's ghost at the front of the craft.

BOOM! The craft exploded in a light blue fireball. Eve shielded her eyes for a second before looking at the craft's remains. They were lying in a burning pile on the ground. Lying next to them was the body of the marine.

Eve mouthed wordlessly at the dead marine before gritting her teeth and glaring angrily at the Covenant squad. She pressed down on the button for the cannons. A barrage of light blue blasts shot out of the craft towards the car. They hit the side of the vehicle, rocking it slightly. The Brute laughed at eve's attempts to kill them. She was going to need to do something better if she was going to get rid of them. After a few seconds of firing on the remains, another idea popped into Eve's head.

She pushed the controls forward to maximum, causing the ghost to shoot forward like a bullet. The Covenant squad saw the threat coming. The Grunts screamed and dived away to the ground. The Brute turned to run away from the car, but before he had even gotten four feet from where he had been hiding.

SMASH! Eve's ghost smashed through the car's remains, breaking them in two. The Brute failed to dive away in time and was hit with the full force of the ghost's speed. The Brute roared in pain as he flew through the over, smacking his head on the front of the ghost, and landed on the ground. He did not get up afterwards.

Eve turned the controls left, causing the ghost to do a 180 degree so it was facing the Grunts. As the four creatures stood up from the ground, Eve pressed down on the cannon's button. Another barrage of light blue blasts shot out of the ghost's cannons towards the Grunts. The four aliens screamed loudly as they were hit and fell to the ground, dead.

"Hey, Eve," a voice shouted.

At first, she thought it was coming from a member of the squad, but then a marine ran down the pathway from the building. Behind him were two other marines. Eve climbed out of the ghost, the vehicle deactivated and fell onto the ground, and ran over to the marine.

"We're glad you showed up," the marine said to her in a relieved tone.

"What happened?" Eve asked the marine.

"After the Covenant took the city earlier on, they drove us to this port," the marine replied. "We've been stuck here for a few hours. We were almost overrun when you guys showed up,"

"Look out! Phantom!" a marine following the warthog, which had stopped near the ramp nearest the building the squad came out of, shouted.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve and the marines looked up and saw a large shape hovering down towards the building. It was a phantom. When the craft was about fifteen feet above the building at the end of the pathway, the circle on the bottom of the craft opened up. A Brute wearing golden coloured armour hovered down onto the roof of the building. Following close behind were three Jackals with activated shields and bringing up the rear were four Grunts.

When the Brute landed on the building's roof, he saw Eve and the marines at the end of the pathway. He roared something and pointed ahead, alerting the rest of the squad to their presence. The phantom, as if it had eyes, turned It's three deadly cannons towards the four at the end of the pathway and fired.

"RUN!" Eve screamed.

The four ran from the pathway and hid behind the one of the nearby metallic crates as the blasts crashed into the ground where their targets had been. Eve peeked her head out from behind the side of the crate, only to move it back behind the crate as another blast flew towards her. It hit the side of the object and fizzed away before disappearing fully.

The marine on the warthog's turret aimed the weapon at the phantom and fired. A barrage of bullets flew at the Covenant craft, hitting one of the side turrets. Part of the armour was hit and fell off the craft in a small explosion, exposing the controls and wiring inside the weapon. The marine aimed the turret at the hole and fired at it. Another small explosion erupted from inside the turret, blowing it off the phantom completely. The turret landed with a crash behind one of the Grunts, making the creature jump. The phantom reared backwards from the building before flying off towards the rectangular building at the left end of the area.

Eve ran to the other end of the crate and waved at the marines in the warthog to get their attention. It worked.

"Drive the warthog over to the pathway and fire on the Covenant!" she shouted to the driver.

The marine driving the warthog nodded and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. The warthog drove forward towards the pathway. The marine on the turret aimed the weapon at the Covenant squad on the roof and fired. The Brute pushed past the Grunts and jumped into what must have been a hole because he quickly dropped down and disappeared from sight. The bullets, instead of hitting the Brute, hit one of the Jackals. The shield was easily penetrated, exposing the creature to the warthog. The barrage continued on and hit the Jackal. The bullets embedded themselves in the creature's chest, killing it. The rest of the Covenant squad jumped through the opening in the roof and disappeared from sight.

"Eve!" one of the marines on foot shouted as he ran over to her. "Go get rid of the anti-air battery. We'll deal with these guys,"

Eve nodded and ran out from behind the crate towards her parked ghost. As soon as she reached it, some of the Jackals, who were hiding behind the walls inside the building near the doorway, saw her and fired a barrage of light green blasts. Some hit her suit, causing her shield to light up. Eve quickly climbed into the ghost and activated it. The vehicle lifted several inches from the ground. Eve moved the controls forward. The ghost hovered past the warthog towards the ramp that led down to the ground.

When Eve hovered won to the ground, a large silver vehicle shot out from behind the earth that was holding up the pathway and the building. It was a chopper. Driving it was a Brute. The Brute drove his vehicle full speed towards Eve, hoping to smash her vehicle to pieces. She pushed her ghost's controls to maximum, causing it to shoot forward towards the cliff. The Brute growled and turned his controls sideways. The chopper turned and chased after her.

Eve looked over her shoulder over the back of the ghost to see the chopper chasing her. Eve went wide-eyed. In a chase or fight with a chopper, she would stand no chance in a ghost. Choppers may not be as fast but their cannons could easily tear her and her ghost apart. Eve looked ahead. Suddenly, she screamed out and pulled the controls back towards her with all her strength as if she was trying to rip them off the vehicle. The distance between her ghost and the cliff side was decreasing rapidly. It looked like Eve was going to fall to her death and be torn apart and crushed and twisted when her ghost hit the ground hundreds, if not thousands of feet below.

The ghost slowed to a halt. Eve slumped against her seat and breathed a sigh of relief. The ghost was just three metres from the edge of the cliff. Had she been any slower and she would have died. She had saved herself from falling to her death. Now she just had to deal-

CRASH! Eve was almost thrown out of her seat as the chopper crashed into the back of her ghost, pushing it two metres towards the cliff side. Eve looked out the back of the ghost to see the front of the chopper reversing away from the ghost for another strike. Eve knew that if the chopper hit her again, she would be finished. She had to do something!

Eve climbed out of her seat and dived away from the ghost. Behind her, another defeaning crash filled the air as the chopper hit the back of the ghost, sending it flying over the edge. The ghost quickly disappeared from sight as it fell to the ground far below. As Eve stood up, the Brute in the chopper laughed. Although he had not killed Eve by sending her over the edge of the cliff, he could now kill her by either running her over with his chopper or firing on her with his vehicle's powerful cannons. Either way did not matter, just as long as she was dead.

The Brute chose his first option. He pushed his controls forward to maximum. The chopper shot forward like a bullet towards Eve. She saw it coming and dived out of the way just as the chopper was a few feet from her. However, as the vehicle passed her, she dived towards it and grabbed the back of the seat. She was now being pulled along through the air by the chopper. The Brute roared in surprise at his enemy and brought his arm back to hit her in the head. Eve ducked and swung a fist at the back of the Brute's head, hitting him. The Brute smashed his face on the controls. He roared in pain and clutched a hand over the front of his face, which was now pouring with dark purple blood. Eve quickly took the chance and swung her fist and struck the Brute in the side of her head. The creature roared as he was hit and fell out of his seat onto the ground, landing painfully on his side, right on the very edge of the cliff, with his back facing the crater. His momentum to move over on his back was a big mistake. As the Brute moved onto his back, he suddenly fell over the side of the cliff. The Brute roared loudly as he fell to the ground far below him. His roars quickly faded away into the air within a few seconds.

The chopper fell to the ground as soon as the Brute was knocked out of his seat. A wave of dirt was into the air. Finally, the chopper came to a halt after a few metres. Eve breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the back of the chopper's seat and stood up. That was close. She could have been killed by this attempt to get rid of a Covenant soldier. If Auto was here, he would have called her suicidal.

A loud nearby boom filled the air. Eve looked and saw it was a wraith, only this one was much different than they would normally look. Instead of firing light blue mortar blasts, this one was firing a barrage of large green blasts into the air. It had two large purple silos attached to the top of the vehicle just above where the mortar blasts would fire from. Inside the silos were two fuel rod cannons. The wraith fired another barrage of green blasts from the silos, filling the air with another set of loud booms. One of the blasts struck the side of a UNSC fighter as it was hovering up from behind the rectangular building. The fighter spun round in mid-air. A trail of smoke came out of the back of the craft. Then…

BOOM! The craft exploded in mid-air. Eve gasped and watched in horror as the remains fell out of the sky behind the building.

Eve was just horrified at what she had seen. This wraith had shot down a fighter right in front of her. The pilots were definitely dead and many more would soon follow if this thing was still operational.

No! Eve was not going to let this wraith stay operational. If she did, then it would only kill many more pilots and soldiers. She had to destroy it so the pilots and pelicans could start bringing reinforcements and giving air support to the troops on the ground in the town. The problem was; what could Eve use to destroy the wraith?

The chopper. That had powerful cannons that could easily bring down a warthog, even though that had barely any armour on to match the wraith. Still… it could work. It could not hurt to try.

Eve ran over to the chopper and climbed in. She activated the chopper and turned it round so the front was facing the back of the wraith. Eve placed her hands on the firing switches for the vehicle's cannons and pressed down. A barrage of blasts flew out at the wraith, hitting the back and side of the craft. The right engine on the front half-triangle section was hit and blown apart completely. A loud growl erupted from the wraith's driving seat. The wraith, however, did not turn, as Eve had expected it to do, but instead moved away from where it was. Eve only continued firing a barrage of blasts at the wraith. The armour was torn apart bit by bit. The wraith could not do anything, as there was no Brute on the turret on the front of the wraith. Finally, the craft could not take any more of the barrage.

BOOM! A light green explosion filled the air as the wraith exploded. The silos flew into the air and landed with a bang on the ground. The Brute driving the wraith was thrown into the air and landed alongside the vehicle. Another explosion tore the back of the wraith off completely. The craft fell onto the ground and lay there a burning wreck.

_"Hell-yeah!"_ a marine's voice exclaimed, which Eve's ear radio picked up. _"The Flyboys are gonna love us for that!"_

Eve smiled. The anti-air wraith had been destroyed. Even though there were most likely more of them further in Voi, at least now it would be easier for reinforcements to be brought in.

_"Hey, Eve,"_ a marine said through her ear radio. _"C'mon, we're heading up to the blast door,"_

Eve pushed the chopper's controls to maximum. The vehicle shot forward towards the ramp that was closer to the next building. When she reached it, the chopper hovered up the ramp, and even a few feet into the air when it reached the top, before coming to rest on the ground on the top of the large concrete block. Eve got out of the vehicle and joined the squad, including those who had gotten out of the warthog, as they ran towards the concrete block that led to the blast door on the next building.

When the squad reached it, they ran up the ramp onto the top of the concrete block. Eve ran over to another button that was on the wall next to the blast door. She pressed it. A loud unlocking sound filled the air. The blast door broke in two and moved into the walls, disappearing from sight.

The squad were greeted by a scene of chaos. As they entered the room, which was another square shape with a flight of stairs, that were in the bottom left corner of the room and led up to a larger room that was connected to a railing walkway that went along the wall to another door that led into another room, and another metal door, that was thinner than in the last entrance room to a rectangular building, under the middle of the walkway on the wall that went into the next room, a barrage of gunfire flew across the room at a group of three Covenant Grunts. Two of them were hit and flipped backwards onto the floor, dead. The last screamed and fled towards the stairs waving It's arms around in the air in terror.

A group of three marines were lined up along the railing walkway.

"Check your fire," one of the marines shouted to her comrades as she saw Eve and her squad run into the room. "It's Eve,"

"Die bad guys!" a high pitched voice squeaked.

The marines looked over towards the stairs and saw the Grunt run down them,. Only this time he had two more Grunts and a Jackal with him. The Grunts fired their weapons at the marines along the railing, hitting and killing one of them. The remaining two returned fire on the Grunts. One of them yelled loudly as it flipped backwards and fell down the stairs to the floor, dead. The Jackal moved in front of the Grunts and raised his shield. The two marines fired at it but the bullets just fell to the floor as soon as they hit the shield. Then, another Jackal ran out from the room at the top of the stairs.

"They just keep coming!" the male marine on the walkway growled.

"C'mon, we have to help," Eve said to her squad.

Eve ran forward and fired a burst of ammo at the Jackal's exposed side. The bullets hit the creature, sending it over the side of the stairs onto the floor, dead.

"Demon! Run away!" one of the Grunts screamed.

The two Grunts turned and ran up the stairs. The Jackal, whose shield was activated, at the top, however, pushed his shield into them. The two creatures tumbled down the steps to the floor. The marines along the railing walkway fired on them before they could get up, killing them.

"Move up," Eve ordered.

She ran over to the steps and charged up them towards the Jackal at the top. The creature saw her and went to fire on Eve. Big mistake. One of the marines along the walkway fired on the Jackal, hitting it in the chest, killing it.

As Eve reached the top of the stairs, her squad following close behind, she saw that the room, which was a long rectangular shaped room with light blue walls and was covered with wooden crates scattered across the floor and had a few dead workers lying among them, the room also led left, forming a kind of tunnel-like room. As Eve ran into the room, a larger group of Covenant were running up towards her from the end. Among the Covenant squad were two Brutes wearing teal green armour, three Grunts and a Brute wearing shiny, dark red armour. In his hands was a gravity hammer.

"The demon!" the Brute with the gravity hammer shouted.

The other Brutes raised their spikers and fired a barrage of orange spikes at Eve. She dived behind a wooden crate, narrowly missing a few spikes that missed her head by a few inches. Eve quickly raised herself up from behind the crate and fired a burst of ammo at the Covenant squad, hitting and killing a Grunt, before ducking back down behind her cover.

This was not good a good place to hide behind though. Eve knew that if the Brute with the gravity hammer swung his weapon at the crate, it would be blown apart as if it were paper. She had to either find more, and better, cover or try and lure the Covenant squad into a trap. Either way was going to be dangerous as the Covenant could easily kill her, especially with the gravity hammer.

"I'll deal with the demon!" Eve heard one of the Brutes say.

Eve quickly peeked her head out from behind the crate. Her fear had become reality. The Brute with the gravity hammer was heading straight for her! He was just three metres away. He was bringing back his gravity hammer, ready to strike at Eve and kill her.

Eve dived out from behind the crate, narrowly missing the gravity hammer as the Brute swung it at the crate, destroying it completely. As Eve stood up, the rest of the Covenant squad fired on Eve. The blasts and spikes hit her suit. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was in the yellow zone and dropping rapidly. She had to find cover! She ran towards the doorway and, in the last few feet, dived towards it. Another set of blasts hit the wall behind her.

"You okay, Eve?" the female marine asked Eve as she ran over to her and helped her up.

"Yeah, thanks," Eve replied.

A deep laugh caught their attention. It was coming from behind Eve. The three looked down towards the entrance to the room and saw the Brute with the gravity hammer standing there. Behind him was the rest of the squad. An evil smile spread across his face. The Brute clutched his weapon tighter.

"It is time for you to die, demon!" he growled. "You and your whelp friends!"

The Brute was about to charge forward towards the three when…

"AAAAAHHH!"

Suddenly, a barrage of bullets threw the rest of the squad behind the dark red armoured Brute to the floor. A few stray bullets had hit the dark red armoured Brute, causing his shield to light up. The Brute growled and charged down the room. Eve ran towards the room and watched as the Brute swung his weapon at the squad of marines that had come with her into the building. One of the marines was hit. He flew through the air and hit the wall. He slumped down to the floor and lay still. The rest of the squad dived away from the Brute, but the creature only swung his weapon at the squad, hitting another marine and sending head first into the wall, killing him.

Eve felt anger rise through her again. This Brute had killed two of her comrades. She had to stop him. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The bullets hit his shield but it quickly lit up brighter before disappearing completely. Perfect. His shield was down. Eve fired another burst of ammo at the Brute again. The bullets easily penetrated the Brute's armour and embedded themselves in his skin. The creature roared in pain before falling to the floor, dead.

"Thanks, Eve," one of the marines said.

"It's okay," she replied. "Okay, we need to move on. I have a feeling the next anti-air wraiths are going to be in the next area,"

Eve ran through back onto the walkway; the squad followed. When she reached the doorway, she ran through it onto another walkway into the next room. This next square shaped room was much like the last second room they had entered in the last building, only the stairs, instead of being in the bottom left corner of the room, went down to the floor at the bottom right corner of the room. On the floor ahead of the squad was another tunnel that led down to another small square shaped room just like in the last rectangular building.

The squad was about to continue when…

SMASH! The squad looked up and saw a mass of green descending upon them. Eve screamed out and fired a burst of ammo into the green mass. A loud screech filled the air, followed by a thud. The green mass seemed to rear backwards like a monster rearing back from receiving a battle wound. Eve saw the body of a Drone lying on the walkway in front of the squad. Flying in the air above the squad were more Drones. Lots of them.

The Drones, all of who were armed with plasma pistols and needlers, fired a barrage of blasts and needle harp projectiles at the squad. The squad immediately dived for cover, either behind the wall on the other side of the doorway or by running down the walkway to the steps. Eve followed two marines as they ran down the steps and hid behind the metal pillars. One of the Drones flew over to the three in an attempt to try and drag one out from behind their cover. However, Eve saw the creature coming and fired on it. The Drone screeched loudly as it was hit and fell to the floor, dead.

"We have to find a way to get rid of these bugs!" one of the marines hiding behind the metal pillars shouted to Eve over the noise of the battle.

How were they? The Drones were many in number and all of them were armed. Where the hell were they coming from anyway? Eve looked out from behind the pillar up at the ceiling which was, or had been, an enormous window. Hovering outside above the window was a phantom with the circle on the bottom of the craft wide open. Oh, well that was her question answered, but it still did not help the squad in find in a way of getting past these Drones!

Then, another swarm of ten Drones flew out of the phantom to join the others. Eve, who had fired a burst of ammo at another Drone, killing it, saw the enemy reinforcements coming.

_Oh great!_ she thought. _At this rate, we'll be dead!_

The new Drones flew towards the three, bringing up their claws, ready to slash at the marines.

BOOM! A chorus of loud screeches filled the air as the new Drones seemed to suddenly explode. The squad watched in shock as they fell to the floor, dead. One of the other Drones screeched loudly and pointed down the tunnel. Suddenly, a large rocket flew down at the tunnel and hit the Drone in the face, sending it flying backwards into the wall with the force akin to a sledgehammer being swung. Another of the remaining Drones screeched something and the swarm flew up towards the hole and flew out after the banshee as it flew forwards, disappearing from view.

A marine with a rocket launcher and a bag of rockets strapped around his back placed on his shoulder ran down the tunnel towards the room.

"Thought you guys could need some help," he said as he reached the end of the tunnel.

The female marine, who had taken cover behind the doorway with the rest of the squad, ran down the walkway and down the stairs to the floor.

"Thanks, corporal," she said. "Are there any more of you?" she asked the marine.

"Yeah," the marine replied. "There's a few more of us down the tunnel. We've got a few mongooses as well so we can strike at the anti-air wraiths in the next area."

"Alright," the female marine said. "Let's get moving!" she ordered.

Eve and the two marines followed the squad as they ran after the soldier down the tunnel to the end. When they reached it, probably by motion detectors, the lights in the ceiling turned on, lighting up the room. Another doorway, again which was big enough for a warthog to fit through, was on the left wall near the top left corner. On the other side of that was the next area. Lined up along the right wall were about five small vehicles that looked like miniature warthogs, but also quad bikes. These were called M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicles, or were nicknamed, as the soldier said to the squad, Mongooses.

When the squad reached the tunnel, a group of four marines, all armed with rocket launchers and had a small pack filled with rockets on their backs, climbed onto the back of the mongooses. The rocket launcher marine that met the squad ran onto the fifth. Eve and few other marines ran over to the mongooses and climbed onto the front of them.

"Sweet!" one of the marines exclaimed. "I always wanted to drive one of these,"

The engines revved loudly. The door leading outside automatically opened. Eve drove her warthog towards the door outside.

In front of the two was another drained out dock-like area the same as the last, only the concrete pathway Eve was already on led down to another concrete pathway that ran all the way to the other building on the other side of the area. About half-way down the longer concrete pathway was a small cube shaped building built onto the pathway, which ran through the middle of it. Two large cranes were built next to the building, one wither side. Further on, about fifteen feet from each crane, was another metal ramp that led down to the ground. Also, there was no pathway leading out to a building in the middle of the area. Instead, there was a large piece of rock with two huge pipes that were going through the middle of it but, like the last area, they had been cut. There were also a few boulders up against the bottom of the main pathway. However, there was a large ship, or half a ship that must have been some kind of tanker, that lay stranded on the ground only a mere twenty feet from the edge of the cliff. Before Eve turned her mongoose down towards the end of the pathway, she and the rocket launcher marine on the back of the vehicle looked down towards the bottom of the cliff and just about saw the remains of the other half of the boat. Probably lying dead inside it were many workers that had not been lucky enough to escape in time.

Eve drove the mongoose down the pathway towards the end. The other mongooses followed close behind. When they reached the end of the pathway, they turned right and drove down the main pathway towards the metal ramp in front of them. A group of marines inside the cube shaped building waved at them.

"Glad you could join us!" one of them shouted to the group as they turned towards the ramp.

As the mongooses drove down the ramp, a large green blast flew into the air, followed by two more. Eve looked ahead and saw another anti-air wraith about seventy feet ahead. That was the target. If they destroyed it, then the pelicans could start bringing in more reinforcements and the attack to clear the Covenant from the rest of Voi could begin.

Suddenly, as Eve's warthog drove off the ramp onto the ground, a blast flew at the mongoose, hitting the side of it and almost tipping it over. Eve looked sideways and saw the front of an enormous silver vehicle charging towards them. It was a chopper. Eve drove the mongoose forward to maximum speed. The chopper narrowly missed the back of the mongoose by several inches. The marine on the back of the mongoose aimed his rocket launcher at the chopper as it began to turn for another strike. He pulled the trigger.

BOOM! The chopper exploded as the rocket hit the side of it. An explosion filled the air. The Brute piloting the vehicle flew several feet into the air and landed on the ground next to the chopper's remains.

"Hell yeah!" the marine shouted at the chopper's remains. "Suck on that, bear face!"

The rest of the mongooses quickly drove onto the ground and immediately hit full speed as they headed straight towards the wraith. Suddenly, a large group of choppers flew towards the group of mongooses. The Brutes driving them fired a barrage of blasts at the vehicles. One of the mongooses was hit and tipped over on It's side. Luckily, the driver and the marine sitting on the back managed to push the vehicle back on It's wheels and drive off before the choppers fired onto them again.

With the other mongooses tied up in fighting the choppers, it was up to Eve and the marine sitting on the back of her mongoose to deal with the anti-air wraith. She drove towards the enormous vehicle as it fired another green blast into the air. When they were close enough, the marine fired a rocket at the vehicle. It hit the front of the craft, making it shake slightly. The wraith hovered backwards away from the mongoose towards the back of the area. If this was the Brute's attempt to get away from Eve, it did very little as Eve just drove forward after it. The marine fired another rocket at the craft, this time striking it at one of the silos with the fuel rod cannons. The silo exploded and fell apart. The marine quickly fired another rocket at the other silo, hitting and destroying that one.

BOOM! The back of the wraith, suddenly, exploded and deactivated, falling onto the ground. Another explosion ripped apart the front of the craft, throwing the Brute driving the vehicle into the air. He landed on the ground next to the wraith and lay still.

_"Good work, guys,"_ came John's voice from Eve's ear radio as a pelican hovered down towards the ground, stopping about forty feet above it.

Hovering next to the craft were two fighters that looked like the helmet of a UNSC ODST marine, only there was a long section that was on the top of the craft. Sticking out of the sides of the bottom of the craft's main section were two twelve feet long rectangular pads where soldiers could stand on. On the sides of the craft's main section, above the two pads, were small metal handles which the marine standing on the pads could grab onto when the craft was flying. Sticking out of both top corners of the craft were two huge fan-like engines which worked like those of a pelican, where they would suck in the air from the outside and use it to keep the craft hovering before pushing it back out to suck in more air. These two crafts were called AV-14 Attack VTOL's or nicknames for them were Hornets.

Eve drove her mongoose towards the other battling mongooses and choppers. The marine sitting on the back of the craft saw one chopper cornering another mongoose up against the side of one of the pipes. The marine aimed his rocket launcher at the chopper and fired. The rocket slammed into the back of the Covenant vehicle, blowing it to pieces. The Brute driving it roared loudly as he flew into the air before he hit the ground and lay still.

"Thanks, guys!" the driver of the mongoose they had just saved shouted as he drove off towards the battle.

Eve followed, having to swerve around another chopper as it was blown apart. The marine fired another rocket at the ground in front of another chopper, throwing up a cloud of dust and dirt. The Brute driving the chopper roared in panic and swerved right, only to end up crashing into a small boulder up against the bottom of the main pathway. The Brute fell out of the vehicle onto the ground. As he got up, a marine standing on the top of the pathway threw an unpinned fragmentation grenade down at the creature. He failed to see it coming and it exploded, killing the creature.

When the last of the choppers had been destroyed, the mongooses came to a halt as if someone had deactivated them.

"Is that the last of 'em?" one of the marines asked.

He got his answer when another boom filled the air. A large green blast flew up into the air from behind the large rock. The squad saw it narrowly miss another hornet. So there was another anti-air wraith in the area. Well, the UNSC were about to put it out of action.

Eve drove her mongoose around the rock towards the anti-air wraith. The other mongooses followed close behind. When all the mongooses were on the other side of the rock, they saw the other anti-air wraith hover towards the left side of the area. It was the perfect target. There were no other Covenant vehicles in the area to protect it. They could destroy it easily. The mongooses drove towards the wraith. The marines sitting on the back of the vehicles reloaded their weapons, ready to bring down the last anti-air wraith.

"Watch out! Phantoms!" one of the marines shouted all of a sudden.

A large shadow passed over the mongooses towards the main concrete pathway, steadily growing larger as if it were preparing to engulf the building whole. The marines looked up and saw the large shape of a phantom descended towards the ground. When it was about ten feet from the ground, it stopped for a few seconds before hovering back into the air, only two ghosts were now hovering where the phantom had just been. Driving them were Grunts.

The two ghosts turned and zoomed towards the mongooses at full speed. When they got closer, the Grunts pressed down on the ghost's cannons controls. A barrage of blasts flew at the UNSC vehicles. Like a swarm of bugs, the mongooses quickly scattered to get away from the ghosts.

Eve drove her mongoose back around the side of the large rock into the next part of the area. Chasing after her was one of the ghosts. The Grunt squeaked something and fired another barrage after It's enemy. One of the blasts struck the back of the mongoose, rocking it slightly, but, thankfully, narrowly missing the back tires of the craft. The marine sitting on the back of the vehicle turned his body round and fired a shot at the ghost. The Grunt, however, saw it coming and swerved right, narrowly avoiding the rocket as it hit the ground and exploded. The Grunt responded by firing a barrage of blasts at the back of the mongoose, aiming for the marine.

"I've got three shots left, Eve!" the marine shouted to her as he took another rocket from the bag strapped around his back.

"Then you'll have to make them count!" Eve shouted back.

The marine loaded another shot into his rocket launcher. However, as he was about to push the rocket into the weapon, another blast struck the rear of the mongoose, making it rock again. The marine dropped the rocket onto the ground. Damn! That was one shot he was barely going to be able to get back. Now he had only two left.

Suddenly, an explosion filled the air behind them. Eve brought the mongoose to a halt, causing the tires to screech loudly. She and the marine looked behind them to see that the ghost was lying in ruins on the ground. The grunt that had been driving the vehicle was lying dead alongside the remains.

"What the hell happened?" Eve asked.

"The ghost probably went over the rocket I dropped," the marine suggested. "The heat coming out from the bottom of the craft must have caused the munitions inside it to blow up,"

BANG! Another explosion on the other side of the rock filled the air, followed by a faint scream the two could just about hear. The other ghost must have been destroyed. If it was then the rest of the mongooses could destroy the other wraith.

Eve started the mongoose again and drove around the rock into the other part of the area. The two saw the remains of the other ghost lying on the ground near the large rock. Good. Now they could destroy the last anti-air wraith. Eve drove towards the wraith, along with the other mongooses. The marine sitting behind her aimed his rocket launcher and fired a shot at the vehicle. It struck the side of the craft, making it rock. Seconds later, the rest of the rockets, fired by the other rocket men, struck the side and back of the wraith. The craft rocked wildly as the rockets hit it. Then…

BOOM! The craft exploded, throwing huge chunks of into the air. The silo's exploded and blew the back of the wraith off completely. The Brute that had been driving the vehicle flew out of the driver's seat into the air before landing on the ground next to the wraith's remains, which were now burning like a bonfire.

_"Good work, marines!"_ John exclaimed through the squad's radios. _"All of the AA wraiths have been destroyed,"_

The mongooses screeched to a halt. Eve breathed a relieved sigh. Now the pelicans could bring in reinforcements and the clearing of Voi could begi-

_"Standby,"_ came John's voice. _"There's something big closing on your location,"_

Eve's eyes went wide. Something big was closing in on their location? Whatever it was, it did not sound good at all.

BOOM! A shockwave passed through the ground like an earthquake. Eve and the marines felt it run through them. That sounded close… and whatever it was, it was big.

Suddenly, a loud grinding sound filled the air, followed by another loud boom, and then another, and another, and another. All sounded close and were much louder. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.

"What's that sound?" another marine driving a nearby mongoose asked in a panicked tone.

BOOM! Another loud boom filled the air. This one was even louder than the last and the ground even shook slightly.

"It's getting closer!" another marine exclaimed.

Then, the top of a large shape rose up from behind the building. The squad saw it and gasped. Eve's eyes went wide as an enormous machine lumbered over the top of the rectangular building. When the entire machine became visible, she instantly recognized it.

The machine had a large main section that was shaped like a rectangle. Four huge mechanical legs stuck out of the corners of the main section. The legs had very thick metallic armour on the legs and along the sides of the main section. The front of the craft was a large open flower-like shape with an enormous green light in the middle. It was a Scarab. So far, the most powerful ground vehicle Eve and the UNSC had fought. The last time she had fought one of these was when the Covenant attacked New Mombassa. However, this one was much different from that one. The main section, instead of having an archway across the top of the machine, had a large raised section that went across the middle and back of the top of the main section. At the front of the raised section was the opening that led down into the scarab. The raised section went up about thirty feet to a large saucer shaped object that was sitting on the top of the raised section. Two large metallic thorn-like parts stuck out of the front of the saucer. A large thin green light went around the front half of the scarab's saucer. It was another turret. Running along both sides of the raised section was a small pathway that led to a large open space of floor at the back of the scarab.

This scarab was much more deadly than the one Eve had destroyed in New Mombassa. No wonder the UNSC had been torn apart on the ground. With huge, newly upgraded machines like these, it was almost impossible to hold of the Covenant advance.

The scarab's two front legs moved forward and slammed onto the ground a few metres in front of the main concrete pathway. The two back legs came forward, moving the two front legs forward again as they slammed into the ground. The scarab moved over the large rock into the middle of the area.

_"Find cover! Now!"_ John ordered as the pelicans and the two hornets hovered high into the air.

The mongooses instantly started and sped off away from the scarab. Big mistake. A large green ball began to form in front of the scarab's cannon. Slowly, it grew bigger and bigger. Eve saw this. Panic filled her quickly like a water tank being filled up. It was charging up!

Then, a large green laser shot out of the cannon, emitting a loud droning noise like it was the wings of a giant Drone, and slammed into the ground, following one of the mongooses as if it were chasing after it. The marine driving it shouted something but the droning covered what he was saying. He tried to speed up but his foot slipped and he fell off. The mongoose spun round and crashed sideways onto the ground, driving deep into the dirt. The marine with the rocket launcher groaned as he got up, only to see the laser coming towards him.

BOOM! The mongoose exploded into a fireball as the laser hit it. The marine was thrown through the air and landed head first into the back of the stranded ship. The body fell to the ground and lay still, most likely having been killed when he mongoose exploded.

Anger filled Eve. She gripped the front of the mongoose tighter as if she was trying to break it. The Covenant were going to pay for killing a marine who had no chance of escaping. That scarab had to be destroyed, but the question was; how? That thing had armour thicker than a scorpion tank and it was going to take more than one of them to break through it. There had to be a weak spot on this thing, but where?

A large rocket flew out from next to the building and struck the back of the scarab. The enormous craft did not rear back or even suffer a scratch from the rocket. However, it did cause the machine to turn towards the main pathway. Eve saw a figure run from the side of the building as a green light appeared on the ground below the craft. Then, the droning sound filled the air once again as the laser shot out of the front of the scarab and hit the side of the rectangular building. The laser tore across the concrete pathway, leaving a huge black scorch mark on It's surface. When it hit the building, small explosion erupted on the front of the building. The front wall collapsed and fell onto the ground below. The marines watched in horror as the laser stopped on the building, burning a hole in the front of the remains. They could not imagine the terror the marines in the building were going through.

Finally, after a few seconds, the laser stopped. The scarab turned back towards the area. It's turret aimed down at the ground and fired a few large light green blasts at the ground, narrowly missing a few of the mongooses as they swerved around to avoid them.

Anger filled the entire squad of marines. They really wanted to kill the Covenant in that scarab and blow the damn machine to Hell! They were going to destroy it, even if they had to climb up the machine itself to destroy it.

Then, as Eve drove underneath the scarab, she saw a large blue light on the top of the bottom of the leg. It was joint onto another section that was also connected to another section of the leg's upper armour. Maybe that was a weak point. Then, as the leg moved sideways, she saw the front of the large crane. That was tall and, as it was on the concrete pathway, towered over the scarab.

_Maybe_ she thought as her eyes followed the part of the crane that stuck out over the area. _Maybe, if I can go up to the top of the crane, I can jump onto the scarab and take it apart from the inside!_

Yes! She had the idea in her head, but going up to the top of a crane and jumping from it onto the top of an enormous machine that was armed with a deadly turret and an even deadlier main cannon was easier said than down, but it was better than nothing. If they tried to take down the scarab from the outside, it would take ages and they did not have long before Hood's ships arrived to begin the assault.

Eve turned to face the marine, who was loading the last shot into his rocket launcher, sitting behind her.

"Take the wheel," she said to him.

"Where are you going?" the marine asked her.

"You'll see," Eve answered. "Just tell everyone to keep that thing distracted and try and hit the joints on the back of the legs," she added.

Before the marine could say anything more, Eve climbed off the mongoose and ran towards the large pipes. She prayed that the scarab would not turn and see her so that she would not get crushed by one of It's mechanical legs. One of the legs landed a few feet in front of her when she was about ten metres from the pipes. Had she been any quicker, she would have been crushed to death.

_I need to be more careful with my luck_ Eve thought as she ran past the leg into the pipe.

Eve ran down the pipe and came out of the other side. In front of her was the enormous rock. Eve looked up and saw the back of the scarab move left as the legs pounded loudly as the mongooses drove around it.

_"Target the joints!"_ came a marine's voice from Eve's ear radio.

A rocket flew out and struck the front of the front left leg. The shot did nothing, apart from attracting the scarab's attention. Luckily, the mongoose zoomed underneath the scarab as it aimed It's enormous cannon down at the ground.

Good. It was still distracted, but Eve still had to be quick. She ran away from the pipe and around the rock towards the other metal ramp that led up to the concrete pathway. When she reached it, she ran up the ramp onto the top of the concrete pathway. A marine, who Eve was shocked to see had survived the scarab's laser and being crushed by the rubble from the building. Eve quickly explained her idea to the marine.

"Take the crane's lift," the marine told her. "We've got a rocket launcher in the building. We'll try and lure it over here."

Eve nodded and ran down the pathway to the crane. A square shaped elevator was connected to the girders that led up to a square shaped hole at the top of the crane. On the wall next to the elevator was a small green button. Eve ran onto the elevator and pressed the green button. She jolted slightly as the elevator ascended up the crane to the top. When it reached the top, Eve ran onto the walkway that went along the top of the crane to the end that stuck out over the area. It was perfect for jumping onto the scarab. Now all that had to be done was getting over underneath the crane.

Eve looked down and watched as a marine came running out of the building with a rocket launcher on his shoulder. The marine faced the scarab and raised the rocket launcher. A shot fired out of the weapon and hit the back of the scarab. The machine turned, It's legs pounding loudly on the ground, and walked over towards the concrete pathway. It's enormous cannons aimed down at the pathway. The marine, along with a few others who were inside the building, ran away from the building. A large green laser shot out of the cannon and hit the pathway. The droning noise almost deafened Eve as the enormous machine was almost directly below her. The laser moved up the pathway, destroying what was left of the building. After a few seconds, the laser stopped.

_C'mon!_ Eve thought impatiently _Turn around so I can blow you to Hell!_

Eve got her wish very quickly as the scarab turned to head back into the air. Now washer chance. Eve breathed in and jumped off the end of the crane. For a second or two, she was falling through the air. Eve was worried not only of landing flat on her face, but also because the scarab might move and she would go falling to her death on the ground.

_Please don't move!_ Eve thought. _Please don't!_

Luck was on her side again. Eve landed on the top of the turret. She hurt her knee but other than that she was okay. Eve stood up but almost lost her balance when the scarab moved forward. She laid down. Maybe it was best she did.

Eve pulled herself forward to the end and looked down at the scarab. She could see the opening into the scarab and the two pathways lead to the back of the scarab. It did not seem to be guarded.

That thought was quickly put out of her mind when a large figure ran out of the opening onto the top of the scarab. It was a Brute wearing gold armour with a gold helmet. Following him were three Grunts. The Brute shouted something at the Grunts and they ran down the pathways. The Brute stood on the side of the pathway and laughed as the mongooses swerved around on the ground below. He was in the perfect position.

Eve quickly pulled herself forward towards the edge of the top of the turret. The raised section's top was about a fifteen feet drop and she had to go past the turret to get to it. Well, she could not stay up here and watch the scarab tear apart the marines on the ground. She was just going to have to jump again and hope the turret did not fire.

Eve pulled herself over the edge, but kept a hand on the side of the turret's top. For a moment she was dangling in the air like a monkey. She looked down and examined the raised section for where she could land. If had to be somewhere she could lad and quickly slide down to the bottom of the raised section and quickly throw the Brute off the scarab to the ground below.

The top left side of the raised section was a good part to slide down. She would land directly behind the Brute and, provided he did not see or hear her, knock him off the scarab, but all that was easier said than done. Well, she could, and pretty much had to, try or this plan Mary had formed would quickly fall apart.

Eve breathed in and let go of the turret's top.

As soon as she hit the raised section of the scarab, everything quickly went wrong. Instead of sliding down the raised section, she tumbled down it. As she was falling, her knees and arms and legs were smacking hard against the metal of the scarab. The Brute heard the noise when Eve was about ten feet from the bottom of the raised section. He turned just in time to be knocked off his feet. The Brute roared as he fell backwards over the edge of the scarab. In blind panic, he grabbed hold of the one thing that was near enough; Eve's leg.

Eve screamed as the Brute grabbed her leg and almost ending up taking him with her over the edge of the scarab. She grabbed hold of the side of one of the metal 'petals' that closed over the scarab's cannon. The Brute clutched down tighter on her leg. Eve found it hard trying to hold on to the 'petal' as the Brute weighed much more than she did and she was worried that he might end up taking her leg off. She had to get rid of him.

Eve brought up her other foot and slammed it down onto the Brute's face as hard as she could. The Brute roared in pain as he let go of Eve's leg to stop the pain from flowing across the rest of his body. Then he realised he was falling to the ground. He roared in panic but there was nothing he could do. As Eve tried to pull herself back up onto the top of the scarab, she heard the Brute's roars stop, at the same time she also heard a loud thud. She shuddered. That was something she had rarely heard up close.

Eve grabbed hold of the side of the scarab's top and was about to pull herself up when a small figure lumbered over to her. It was a Grunt. Eve looked up at the creature and it looked down at her. Then, the Grunt, suddenly, raised his plasma pistol to fire, but Eve was too quick for him. She grabbed the Grunt and threw him over the edge of the scarab. It screamed loudly as it fell to the ground, only to stop abruptly with a loud thud like the Brute.

"AH!" the other two Grunts screamed as Eve pulled herself up onto the scarab's top. "Demon! Run away!"

The other two Grunts turned and ran down the pathways as Eve pulled herself up onto the scarab. She stood up and ran down the left pathway, grabbing hold of one of the Grunts and wrestling It's gun from it, causing the Grunt to run the way it had just come, to the back of the scarab. The other Grunt ran to the back, took one look at Eve and screamed before running back up the pathway. Eve shook her head.

_They are really scared easil-_ she thought only to stop abruptly.

Her eyes looked right and rested on something huge on the back wall of a section of the scarab that was built into the armour. It was a huge metal circle with four small clamp-like objects sticking off the sides, top and bottom of the circle to the metallic wall. In the middle of the circle was a blue light. However, in the four corners between the circle and the wall was some kind of orange skin that looked to be moving. Over the entire thing was some kind of green shield that resembled that of a Jackal's.

_"Eve,"_ came John's voice. _"This is John, are you alright? Where are you? Over,"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"I'm alright John," she replied. "I'm inside the scarab. I've found this shield over some kind of a circle with a light on it at the back of the scarab."

_"That's the core,"_ John explained. _"If you take out the shield and then destroy the circle, the whole thing'll be blown to pieces. Just make sure your far away when it does,"_

Eve nodded as if John could see it and lowered her hand. She raised her plasma pistol and fired a shot at the shield, just to test it and see if it was not indestructible. When the shot hit it, the shield turned from a light green colour to a pale orange colour. It stayed this was for a second before turning back to light green. Well that her question answered.

Eve fired a barrage of blasts at the shield. Very quickly it turned to pale orange again before going to dark orange, then bright pink then red. Then, the shield suddenly lit up brightly before disappearing in the blink of an eye as if something had shut it off. Now all she had to do was destroy the circle. She fired another barrage of blasts at the circle, but after a few seconds she stopped. The circle had barely a scratch on it.

_Okay, maybe a charged shot should do it_ Eve thought.

She pressed her finger down on the plasma pistol's trigger. A light green ball began to form and grow larger on the front of the plasma pistol. When it was about the size of a football, Eve fired the shot at the circle. It hit and fizzed away as if it were eating it but, unfortunately, the circle still remained fully intact.

Eve cursed silently under her breath. She had fired a barrage of blasts and even a charged shot at this thing and still it was working. It looked she was going to have to get a better weapon and see if that would do any dama-wait a minute. What if she hit it with her weapon? That might do the trick but if it did not, then she was going to have to find another powerful weapon. This was the last thing to do. Eve stepped towards the circle and swung her plasma pistol at the circle.

Before Eve could even blink, a loud droning/beeping sound filled the air, followed by a loud grinding sound that seemed to come from everywhere on the machine. The light, in the blink of an eye, turned from blue to red and flashed continuously. The scarab shook slightly and Eve felt it descend. Was it falling apart?

_"Eve!"_ John shouted through her ear radio. _"Get the hell off that thing! It's gonna blow!"_

She did not need telling twice. She sprinted down the pathway to the front of the scarab. She skidded to a halt to see that the scarab's legs were now bending outwards like that of a spider, making it about half of It's original height. Small explosions erupted from the legs and the lights on the back of them flashed red. By the looks of it, the scarab had only a few moments left before it blew up, and Eve would be gone along with it if she did not hurry, but where could she go?

Eve frantically looked around the scarab to find a way out. She could not jump because it was too high. She'd end up breaking a leg. There had to be another way off the machine. Wait a minute. The entrance into the scarab. Maybe that might lead to a way out of the craft. The Covenant had upgraded their scarabs so there was a chance there might be. It was better than jumping and definitely better than staying here waiting to get blown up.

Eve ran across the top of the scarab through the opening. She ran down a dark blue ramp into a large room that was shaped much like the one on the last scarab. However, there was a big difference. There were no control panels or computers attached to the walls and there was no wall going across the centre of the room. However, to Eve's relief, there was a large rectangular shaped hole at the back of the room leading outside. Probably where troops would be dropped out the machine onto the ground. Eve ran down the room to the end. She stopped at the hole to quickly check and see how far it was from above the ground. The scarabs' legs bending upwards had put the distance from the back of the room to the ground about fifteen feet. Not far. Eve jumped onto the ground and ran towards the pipes which were a few metres away. When she reached them, she ran inside one of the pipes and covered her ears as she crouched, waiting for the big explosion.

Seconds later, a loud charging up sound filled the air. Something was happening to the scarab. Was It's cannon trying to fire one last shot? Or had the raft somehow managed to stand up.

Then…

**BOOM! **An enormous explosion erupted from the other side of the pipe. It was so powerful that even through the thickness of the metal, Eve could feel the heat from the explosion cut through the pipe and run across her body like a wave breaking on the shore and spreading across the sand. Loud booms and thuds followed as large chunks of something hit the pipe or the surrounding area. Something big hit the top of the pipe, creating a loud bang that made Eve jump in fear that it would crush the pipe.

Finally, after a few seconds, the noise stopped. Eve slowly moved her hands from her ears and walked down the pipe towards the outside. When she reached the end of it, she peeked her head out and gazed around. She gasped at the sight around her.

Scattered over the ground were huge pieces of the scarab. It was obvious where the explosion had come from and large chunks of the machine were scattered everywhere. Literally everywhere! Other than large pieces being scattered across the ground of the area, Eve could see large pieces of it on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. She was surprised they had not gone right through the roofs.

"Well done, Eve" came Mary's voice from her ear radio. "I'm sending in a few pelicans,"

Eve walked out of the pipe and watched as a group of pelicans flew out from behind the right rectangular building. One hovered down towards the cliff. The resting area's doors opened and a group of three marines ran out onto the ground.

"There's one more target, Eve," came John's voice as the marines ran towards the concrete pathway. "A Covenant AA gun in the next area. If you, the Arbiter and the marines can take it out then lord Hood can start his attack run,"

Eve nodded and ran with the three to one of the ramps that led up to the concrete pathway. When they reached it, along with the marines who had been using the mongooses, they ran up to the top. A pelican, It's resting area facing the pathway, hovered down. When it was about ten feet above the pathway, the resting area's door opened. A large figure holding two plasma rifles ran out onto the pathway. It was the Arbiter.

"Nicely done destroying the scarab," he said to Eve as he looked at the machine's remains. "There was honour in our Covenant once… and there shall be again with the liar's death and the destruction of those who follow him,"

"Follow us, Eve," a marine said as he ran up to her.

The marine ran past Eve down the pathway towards a small doorway that led into the building. Eve, the Arbiter and the rest of the marines followed. The squad ran through the doorway into a small square shaped room with a sandbag placed in the corner ahead of the doorway. On a stand behind the sandbag wall was a deployable machine gun turret. Two marines were standing behind it, their weapons half raised in case any Covenant tried to get to them. A corridor led off to the right on the right wall.

The squad ran down the corridor to another room that was in two sections. They were in the shape of two squares being connected by a top right corner and a bottom left corner. Along the walls were tables filled with medical equipment and radios. However, also along the walls were several groups of marines and dock workers. A door was on the front wall in the other section of the room. As the squad came into the room, Eve could see that the groups were around wounded marines. One dock worker sobbing over his friend who was bleeding badly. A medic marine was tending to him and another wounded dock worker who had blood on his arm. Behind another sandbag wall in the top right corner of the room, where a few weapon racks and control machine lined the walls, another marine was lying on a gurney. On the floor next to it were four body bags. Eve looked at them and wondered how many more would be filling the room.

"Is he gonna be alright?" the sobbing worker asked the marine through his sobs.

"He'll be fine," the marine replied, though Eve could tell by the tone in his voice he was not.

"The communications are down," another nearby worker said. "I need to reach my family and make sure they're alright,"

Eve sighed. She really wished she could help these people, but the Covenant were stopping her from doing so. She really hated the Covenant. All they were doing was killing innocent people than digging up some freaking artifact. She had to stop them, find Truth and kill him.

"Anyone who can walk and isn't needed, come with us," one of the marines in the squad ordered.

The squad ran over to the doorway. Four people joined them. All of them were dock workers armed with pistols. One of them had a blood stained bandage around the side of his head, probably caused by a blast wound. The squad ran through the doorway into a large square bare square shaped room with several doors leading off in different directions, but all leading to locked doors, apart from one, which was on the wall ahead of them. The squad ran down this corridor towards the room at the end. As they did, chatter broke out which Eve could hear through her ear radio.

_"All Brute cruisers are pulling back towards Truth's ship."_ a marine reported. _"Winds inside the storm are starting to pick up. Looks like the Covenant are preparing for something big,"_

The artifact! If all of the Covenant ships were pulling back to Truth's ship, then they must be preparing to activate the Ark. Oh no! Now it was a race against time to destroy this last AA gun and allow Hood and his ships to attack and destroy Truth's ship.

A moment later, the squad ran out of the corridor into an enormous square shaped room with many large metallic crates scattered around everywhere. A path ran between a few of them to a large metallic bridge that stretched from a large metallic block, about fifteen feet long and ten feet high, on the left side of the room to another metallic block on the right side of the room. A flight of stars were visible on the right metallic block. The left bloc was connected to another wall at the other end of the room with a doorway in it. About half-way down the wall at the other end of the room was a large open blast door that led into another room.

"We must be in the periphery of one of the warehouses," one of the marines said. "The AA gun shouldn't be too far ahead,"

"Let's just hurry and get over there so we can blow it to Hell," one of the dock workers replied in an angry sounding tone.

The squad ran down the path between the crates towards the metallic bridge. Suddenly, as the squad came into an open space between the crates and the metallic bridge, a large wave of orange projectiles flew out from behind one of the crates to the squad's left and hit the side of an overturned crate moving vehicle. Three dock workers were hiding behind it. A large figure ran out from behind where the projectiles came from. It was a Brute wearing teal green armour. He was holding a spiker. As he loaded another clip into his weapon, he caught sight of the squad.

"I will kill you all!" the Brute shouted.

The squad raised their weapons and fired a barrage at the Brute. His armour was easily penetrated by the bullets and the blasts (the Arbiter) and he fell to the floor, dead.

One of the workers slowly stood up. When he saw the squad, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh," he said in a relieved tone as he walked out from behind the overturned vehicle. The other two workers followed him "Thank you so much. We thought we were dead,"

"Are there any more of you?" one of the marines asked the worker.

"Yeah," the worker replied. "They captured a few others in the next part of the warehouse…" the worker pointed towards the blast door. "If, by some luck, they're still alive then we better hurry,"

"THERE THEY ARE!"

The squad and the workers dived for cover as a barrage of blasts flew at them. Eve and the Arbiter ran over to one of the metallic blocks and hid behind it. They rested their backs against it and slowly moved down the block towards the corner. Eve peeked her head out from behind it to see three Brutes. One was wearing gold armour and was armed with a Brute shot. The other two were wearing dark blue armour and were armed with spikers. One of the dark blue armoured Brutes saw Eve.

"The demon!" he shouted, pointing at her.

Eve quickly moved her head back behind the metallic block as a wave of range spikes flew at her. They hit the side of the block and got stuck there. One of the marines, who was hiding behind the overturned vehicle with the workers, stood up and fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the Brutes. It hit one of the dark armoured Brutes in the chest, causing the Brute to rear backwards in pain and green volts of electricity to spark from one part of the suit to the other for a few seconds. The Brute growled and fired a wave of orange spikes at the marines. They hit him in the chest. Blood flowed from the wounds. The marine clutched one of the spikes and tried to say something. Then he fell to the floor, dead.

"If you saw that demon, then the same fate will happen to you!" one of the Brutes shouted.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. The Brutes were going to pay for killing that marine, but how could they stop them? Even though the Brutes had no cover, they could easily run into the next room and call for reinforcements. If they did then by the time the squad broke through the Brutes, if they did, then Truth would have activated the Ark by then. Mary's plan and everything the UNSC was fighting to defend on Earth would have been for nothing.

"Watch out! Grenade!" one of the workers suddenly shouted.

Eve peeked her head out from behind the block and saw one of the dark armoured Brutes take out a plasma grenade. He pressed his finger down the orange thunderbolt. If he threw it at the marines, they would be killed. Eve had to stop them. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the Brutes. The bullets broke through the armour and embedded themselves in the creature's chest. The Brute roared in pain and dropped the grenade by his feet to place his hand over the wound on his chest.

"YOU FOOL!" the gold armoured Brute roared in panic as he dived away from the grenade.

BOOM! The plasma grenade exploded. Eve shielded her eyes for a second before the light faded away. When she moved her arm, she saw the two dark blue armoured Brutes lying on the floor.

"Move up!" one of the marines ordered.

The squad ran out from behind their cover towards the blast door. Eve and the Arbiter followed. The golden armoured Brute groaned as he stood up, only to be hit by a barrage from the squad. The Brute roared in pain and fell forward onto the floor, dead. The squad ran on.

The squad ran through the blast door into a small rectangular section of the next room which was filled smaller metallic crates. The rectangular section led left into a larger section of the room. The squad ran down the rectangular section into the larger section of the room, which was a square shape and was covered with metallic crates. On the right wall, on the other side of a pile of crates, the squad could see another open blast door that led into another section of the warehouse. A path led left around the crates to the blast door. Hopefully, that one had the way out of the building to the turret.

Suddenly, they skidded to a halt. On the floor in front of them were bodies. Lots of them. Most of them were workers. By the look of it, they had been slaughtered mercilessly by the Brutes. The squad could still even see the panicked looks on their faces, probably the last emotion they would ever feel before death claimed them.

"No!" a voice shouted. "No, please!"

The squad stopped dead. Someone was shouting up ahead. With the bodies here, it was obvious someone was being held captive.

Eve ran ahead of the squad and around the crates towards where the shout came from. When she reached the edge of the pile, which was about twenty feet from the blast door, she saw a large figure standing near the door holding something out in front of him. It was a Brute with teal green armour. In his hand…was a dock worker!

The Brute swung his fist at the worker, hitting him in the stomach. A look of pain stretched across the worker's face. He had been winded. The Brute laughed at the worker as he tried to gasp for breath.

Anger filled Eve's heart. She even began to shake because she was so angry. Her free hand clenched into a fist. Without thinking, she charged forward towards the Brute. When she was a few feet from him, she swung her battle rifle at the creature's back. A loud crack filled the air. The Brute let out a loud groan/growl before he fell forward onto the ground, dead. The worker fell to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked the worker in a concerned tone as she helped him up.

"Yeah, thanks," the worker replied.

"Eve, is everything okay?" a voice behind her asked.

Eve looked over her shoulder to see the rest of the squad appear around the corner of the pile of crates.

"I managed to save him," she told the squad.

"Good work," one of the marines replied. "Can you tell us where the exit out of the warehouse is?" the marine asked the worker Eve had just saved.

"Yeah," the worker replied. "It's just through there…" the worker pointed through the blast door into the next part of the warehouse. He knelt down and wrenched the Brute's plasma rifle from his belt around his waist. He stood up. "C'mon, I'll show you,"

The worker ran into the next section of the warehouse. The squad followed. The next section of the warehouse was in the shape of short wide rectangular shape with a large square shape attached to the left side of the rectangular shape. At the other end of the room was a twelve foot high ledge with a pathway on the top of it that to a doorway into a room. About half-way down the right wall of the room was a large closed blast door. On the left wall of the room, next to the left end of the pathway, was another large closed blast door. Scattered around the room were the remains of several trucks and crate moving vehicles. Also scattered across the floor were the bodies of several dock workers and marines. Their weapons and grenades were scattered across the floor. This must have been where the Brutes began their massacre from.

"Through the door up ahead," the worker leading the squad said.

Gladness ran through the squad like water against rock. They were close to finally completing their last objective. Although there was no doubt going to be a lot of Covenant would be ready to defend the AA turret, they knew, with Eve and the Arbiter's help, that this would most likely end successful.

Just then, a loud unlocking sound filled the air. It came from up ahead. Then, the blast door slowly began to rise up from the floor. The squad skidded to a halt and raised their weapons in case it was Covenant. Their fingers were on the triggers, ready to fight with whatever came through the door. The door rose higher and higher. At any moment, a Covenant was going to come charging into the room. Well, if it did, the alien would be killed. The door suddenly came to a stop. Sunlight flooded the room.

However, instead of a large group of Covenant or a ghost or chopper or any Covenant vehicle, four figures ran into the warehouse. They were dock workers, all armed with pistols. The squad lowered their weapons as the four stopped next to the remains of a truck to catch their breath.

"Hey guys," one of the marines shouted. "Over here!"

The workers, however, instead of waving back started shouting at the squad:

"Go back!"

"Run!"

BOOM! An enormous green explosion erupted on the truck behind the workers. They screamed loudly as they flew through the air, landing no more than a few metres from where they were standing. The squad went wide-eyed at this sight. What the hell had just done that?

They got their answer when two huge figures stomped into the warehouse, their feet pounding loudly on the floor. Hunters. Eve gulped in fear, though she was not the only one who was terrified. The rest of the squad began to back away from the approaching monster aliens. Even the Arbiter was starting to shake with fear, something which Eve had not seen him do, let alone show.

Then, the Hunter stopped when they were about ten feet into the warehouse. Before anyone could blink, they aimed their cannons and fired two powerful green lasers at the squad.

"DUCK!" Eve screamed.

The squad dived to the floor. However, one of the marines was not quick enough and was hit by the laser. He flew back towards the wall. A loud thud echoed throughout the warehouse as the marine slammed against it like a metal fist striking a brick wall. The marine slid down the wall, leaving a small trail of blood, to the floor and lay still.

As Eve stood up and went to pick up her weapons, she saw the cannons starting to glow green again. They were preparing to fire! If they did, then the squad might not be so lucky in avoiding them this time. She was going to try and have to draw their fire.

Eve ran towards the other end of the warehouse. Her plan worked almost instantly. The Hunters aimed their cannons towards her and fired. The two lasers narrowly missed her as they flew behind her and hit the wall. The metal collapsed to the floor like paper. One of the Hunters growled in frustration and charged his laser to fire at Eve again. Unfortunately, Eve running towards the other end of the room caused them to turn to fire on her. Big mistake.

The Arbiter took the chance and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at the Hunters. One of them was hit repeatedly in the weak spot on It's back until the Hunter let out a loud groan and fell forward onto the floor, dead. That was one down, just one more to go.

It was then the Arbiter realised that even though one Hunter was dead, which was a good thing, it was also bad. The other Hunter turned and growled loudly. The Arbiter had just killed It's comrade! Well, the Hunter was going to make him pay, painfully.

The Hunter charged towards the Arbiter, bringing back It's enormous metal sword. A few of the marines took the opportunity to fire on the creature, which saved the Arbiter, but caused the Hunter to charged towards them instead. The Hunter swung It's metal sword at the marines. One of them was hit and flew through the air. He hit the wall and fell to the floor. He did not rise afterwards.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. They had lost two marines already because of the Hunters. If something was not done, it would kill the entire squad. No! Eve was not going to let that happen. Not when they were so close to starting the attack. She had to stop the Hunter but it was going to need a quick and devastating weapon.

Just then, the glimmer of the sunlight across something on the floor near her feet caught her attention. She looked down and saw it was a sniper rifle. An SR S99C-S2, one of the best sniper rifles ever made in the UNSC. Eve picked it up and checked It's ammo. To her surprise, it was still loaded. She could use it against the Hunter. She raised the sniper rifle and looked through the scope, aiming right at the creature's back. The Hunter was standing still. A large green light was charging up in It's cannon. It was now or never. Eve rested a finger on the trigger and pushed down.

A loud groan filled the air, followed by a loud thud. The Hunter was laying stomach down on the floor, dead. A small pool of orange blood was on the floor below the creature. Eve lowered her sniper rifle. She had killed the creature just in time. One of the workers had fallen over and would have been killed if the Hunter had fired It's laser. Luckily, Eve had saved his life.

"Nice work, Eve," one of the marines said. "Alright, let's move on. We're almost there,"

Eve ran towards the blast door with the rest of the squad. As they came outside, the last flash of sunlight began to fade away as the Sun began to dip behind the distant hills. The squad found themselves on a small rod that led from the warehouse over to a large security fence with a gate built on it. To the left of the road was a small cube shaped building which had It's side caved in. A small pillar of smoke rose up from the rubble, probably a small fire. To the right of the road was a large rectangular shaped building with a curved end. The side of the warehouse building formed a small path that led in the direction of the Ark. Hopefully, it was also a path that led to the AA turret. Scattered across the ground were the remains of more trucks and crate moving vehicles, along with the crates themselves. On the ground half-way down the road was a small Covenant pillar. As usual, a hologram of Truth was hovering above the pillar.

**"Take heart, my brothers!"** he was saying. **"Only our enemies should fear this raging storm!" **

By the sounds of it, it was getting close to the Ark being activated. They did not have much time. They had to get to that gun and destroy it, otherwise it was game over for Earth and the UNSC.

"C'mon," Eve said to the squad. "We've got to be almost there!"

"THERE THEY ARE! KILL THEM ALL!"

The next thing the squad knew, a barrage of blasts and orange spikes flew at them. The squad dived for cover. Eve hid behind a crate moving vehicle with the Arbiter and another two marines, narrowly missing a barrage of blasts as they flew over their heads and hit the wall of the building behind them.

"We must be close," Eve said to the Arbiter.

The Arbiter poked his head up from behind the vehicle and saw the Covenant squad scattered around the path ahead of them, which lead to another security gate between the side of the warehouse and another rectangular shaped building. A small fire raged behind the gate. Next to it was a destroyed overturned crate moving vehicle.

The Covenant squad was made up of six Grunts, four Jackals and three Brutes. Two of the Brutes were wearing teal green armour and were armed with plasma rifles. The last Brute, (Eve groaned at this), was wearing dark red armour. In his hands was the weapon Eve really hated, (If you guessed a gravity hammer, you were right).

"There are many of them," the Arbiter said to Eve as he ducked down to avoid a blast from one of the teal green armoured Brutes. "You could be correct, Evelyn. The turret must be on the other side of the buildings."

"Look out!" one of the marines hiding across the road shouted. "The Brute's charging!"

BOOM! A loud electrical/fizzing sound filled the air as the crate moving vehicle Eve, the two marines and the Arbiter were hiding behind was lifted into the air. The group were thrown to the ground. The crate moving vehicle landed with an almighty crash beside the group.

Eve groaned as she lifted her head up from the floor. She had been thrown onto her stomach and had hit the concrete, but not too hard, which was lucky. A large shadow swept across her, followed by a deep laugh. She gasped and turned over to see the Brute with the gravity hammer standing over her. He laughed again as he kicked away Eve's sniper rifle.

"Take one last look at my gravity hammer, demon!" he growled at Eve. "It will be the last thing you and your friends will ever see,"

The Brute raised the gravity hammer over his head. Eve went wide-eyed. This could be it for her. Her part in the war was over. The UNSC would have to fight on without her. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow to come.

It never came.

Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air. Eve's eyes shot open to see the Brute with a hand over his face. Standing over Eve, with his back to her, was the Arbiter. His hand was clenched into a fist. He had quickly got up and punched the Brute just as he was about to bring his weapon down onto Eve. He had saved her.

"Are you alright, Evelyn?" the Arbiter asked her as he looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks" Eve replied as she stood up.

A growl caught the two's attention. The red armoured Brute glared at the two.

"You will pay for that, Arbiter!" he growled.

Before the Arbiter could react, the Brute reached behind his back and took out a small ball shaped device and threw it towards the Arbiter. As soon as it left his hand, the ball lit up like the Sun. Eve, the marines, and the Arbiter was stunned and shielded their eyes, but the light just seemed to penetrate them. For a full few seconds, they could not see. This thing was literally blinding them. The Brute took his chance.

Another loud electrical/fizzing sound filled the air once again as the gravity hammer was swung by the Brute, who seemed to have some kind of immunity to the sunlight as blinding as it was. This time, he hit something. A second later, the device finally exploded in an electrical bang. The Brute's head turned from left to right frantically. Where were Eve and the Arbiter?

Suddenly, a sharp pain ran up his back. The Brute's armour's shield lit up brightly before fading away. The Brute went to turn but the side of a plasma rifle hit him acorss the side of the head, throwing his head at an awkward angle, which emitted a loud crack. The Brute fell to the floor. His life was quickly slipping away. The last thing he saw was the Arbiter and Eve standing over him. Finally, his eyes closed. Not another sound came from the Brute.

That was lucky. The Arbiter and Eve had managed to get behind the Brute when he swung his gravity hammer. What he had hit was one of the Arbiter's plasma rifles, which was now broken in two on the ground in front of the half-destroyed cube shaped building, but with this Brute dead, it was now going to be easier getting to the turret.

"Kill them!" a deep voice shouted from the direction of the pathway.

Eve and the Arbiter looked towards the pathway. Whilst they had been stuck with the gravity hammer Brute, the rest of the Covenant squad was fighting with the rest of the squad. Two of the Grunts and one of the Jackals were lying dead on the ground. As for the squad, one of the workers was dead. A blast in the face, killing him instantly. The rest of the squad, apart from the two marines who were with Eve and the Arbiter and were now hiding behind the overturned crate moving vehicle, were hiding behind a few crates. The Covenant squad were hiding behind the remains of what had been the front of a truck.

"We must help them," the Arbiter said.

Before Eve could ask him how, the Arbiter knelt down and grabbed the gravity hammer. Because he was taller and physically stronger than a Human, it was barely heavy in his hands. The Arbiter stood up from the ground and handed his plasma rifle to Eve.

"Let us defeat these fools," he said to her.

Eve nodded and ran after the Arbiter as he charged towards the Covenant squad. When the Arbiter was about ten feet from a Brute and a Jackal hiding behind what had been the truck's engine, he let out a roar and swung the gravity hammer at the two. A loud electrical/fizzing boom filled the air once again, followed by a deep scream and a loud screech. The brute and the Jackal flew through the air and landed on the ground, dead.

"They got leader!" one of the Grunts, who was hiding behind a destroyed and bent section of the truck's roof, screamed. "Run away!"

The Grunt ran out from behind It's cover towards the security fence, waving It's arms around in the air in terror. The last remaining Brute growled and fired a blast at the creature, hitting it in the back, killing the Grunt instantly.

As the Brute, who was hiding behind a large piece of the truck with the last Grunt and other two Jackals, turned to fire on the Arbiter, a barrage of blasts struck him in the chest and face, easily breaking through his armour, killing him. Eve ran over to the Brute's cover. The Grunt, who was starting to panic, saw her coming.

"NOOOO!" the last Grunt screamed "Run away!"

The Grunt ran out from behind It's cover, only to fall dead onto the floor as a barrage of bullets hit the creature in the back. The Jackals, however, stood where they were and raised their shields. Eve did not fire on them. Instead, she jumped over a low piece of the truck and swung her plasma rifle at one of the Jackals' shields. A loud fizzing sound filled the air as the shield burst and disappeared. The Jackal was knocked sideways as It's shield disappeared. Eve quickly raised her plasma rifle and fired two blasts at the creature. They hit the creature in the chest. The Jackal screeched loudly and fell to the ground, dead. The other Jackal screeched something and went to fire on eve. However, she swung her foot sideways at the other Jackal's shield, knocking it out of It's hand. Eve then swung her fist at the creature's head, hitting the creature in the beak and sending it to the ground, out cold.

"Good work," one of the marines said as the rest of the squad ran over to Eve. "Now we can get to the turret,"

"It's just down there," the worker Eve had saved piped up, pointing down another pathway that led left through the two rectangular shaped buildings to a large cube shaped building which had a huge fire inside it.

The squad ran down the pathway towards the end. As they approached it, they saw the path turned right. Hopefully, it led to the Covenant AA turret. It had to. The worker himself had said it was nearby so it just had to be in this area somwhe-

BOOM! The squad skidded to a halt just in time to see an enormous green, wraith mortar blast-like blast fly out diagonally from behind the buildings into the air. Seconds later… BOOM! Another blast followed the other. An explosion erupted in the air as the second blast struck the bottom of a passing pelican, destroying it completely.

"By the looks of that blast, this turret is going to be huge," Eve said, adding a slightly worried tone on the last word.

"It is," one of the workers replied. "C'mon, let's blow it to Hell,"

The squad ran down the pathway and turned right. There, they stopped dead.

Ahead of them was a hill that stuck about a hundred feet into the pit. It was covered with large rocks which had grass growing over them. They formed several paths between them. However, standing over the rocks was the biggest turret, and probably the biggest the group were ever going to see. It stood at least sixty to seventy feet high and was a gold colour. The centre of the turret was a huge flat saucer-like centre with a small bulge sticking out of the top of it. On top of that was shaped like an ODST HEV. Connected to the top of that was a large beam rifle shaped cannon top with a large green light, much like that on a Covenant carbine, going down both sides of the cannon top. The entire turret was resting on three enormous metallic legs that were sticking out of the saucer shaped part of the turret in a triangle formation. They bottom of the legs had driven down a few metres into the hill, probably to hold it in place.

At the moment, the cannon top was aiming diagonally up at the sky. It stood there like a predator waiting for a meal to come by. All of a sudden, the cannon fired again. The cannon moved back a few metres before it moved forward back into place. When it fired, a bright violet-like colour blinded everyone for a second before it faded. Another large green blast shot up into the air. The squad watched as it flew off. Then, they were filled with horror as a UNSC long sword fighter happened to fly over the turret.

BOOM! The blast struck the bottom of the fighter. A fire broke out on the craft. The craft, immediately, spun round in the air and fell down past the hill. A second later, an explosion erupted from the cliffs, followed by the sound of something big crashing and tumbling down the side of the cliffs to the ground far below. There was no doubt anyone who was on board the long sword fighter was dead.

"If the Dawn gets here, that thing'll tear it apart!" one of the marines exclaimed.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

_"Eve!"_ Mary's voice exclaimed from the radio. _"Hood's ships are closing in on the area. Destroy that turret, quickly! We're out of time!"_

Eve nodded as if replying to Mary. This was it. If they failed, then it was over for Earth, humanity and every being in the galaxy.

"C'mon!" she said. "Let's end this!"

Eve ran ahead of the squad up the hill towards the turret. The squad followed. As they approached the hill, several small figures came into view from behind one of the small rocks. Grunts! They stopped dead when they saw Eve charging towards them.

"Here comes the demon!" one of the squeaked.

The Grunts fired a barrage of light green blasts at Eve as she approached the hill. Her suit's shield lit up as some of the blasts hit it. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was in the green zone. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired up at the Grunts. One of them yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The other two Grunts screamed and ran behind the rock. Eve kept her finger on the trigger. There was no doubt that there were going to be more Covenant.

As Eve reached the rock, a barrage of orange spikes flew at her. She dived the ground, narrowly missing the wave of orange spikes as it flew over her head. A deep voice shouted something. The rest of the squad stopped near the small rock and hid behind it or went prone to avoid getting hit by one of the Covenant's blasts.

"How many of them are there?" one of the marines asked Eve.

She slowly crept forward and peeked her head out from behind the side of the rock, looking directly at the rest of the hill. She quickly managed to catch glimpse of about four Grunts, two Jackals and three Brutes, two of them wearing teal green armour and one wearing gold armour with a gold helmet, all standing near the biggest rock on the hill, before one of the Brutes fired another wave of orange spikes at her. Eve quickly moved her head back behind the rock as the blasts hit the ground next to her.

"About nine of them," she told the squad. "If we can flank them, then we can kill them and then start on how we can disable this turret,"

BOOM! The turret fired another blast into the air, narrowly missing the front of a hornet that was flying past. The hornet retaliated by firing a few rounds from It's cannons at the enormous weapon but that barely did any damage to the turret thick armour.

"I can see a good place to flank them," one of the marines said as he quickly looked up over the top of the rock, only to duck down again as a wave of blasts flew over the squad's cover.

Eve moved her head out from behind the side of the rock to see where the marine was pointing. At the other end of the hill was a large rock which was in a good place to fire on the Covenant as their rock only provided cover from where the squad were hiding. If someone from the squad, or at least a few people, could get over there, they could easily fire on the Covenant squad and kill them all. The only question was; who was going to take the chance of running over to the rock?

Eve quickly moved back behind the rock as a barrage flew at her.

"It's a good position to fire on the Covenant," she told the squad. "Only, one, or a few, of us are going to have to run to get over there. I'll go over there. Anyone want to come with me?"

No one in the squad answered for a few seconds. Finally, the Arbiter, who had gotten rid of the gravity hammer and was now wielding a spiker from one of the Brutes, broke the silence.

"I will go," he announced from his crouched position. "I want to show that any still willing to believe the prophet will be punished."

"Alright, that's one," one of the marines said. "Anyone else?" she asked again just to make sure.

No one answered. The Arbiter went prone and moved over next to Eve.

"Alright, get ready," one of the marines ordered.

Three marines lined up, crouched, behind the rock. They half-raised their weapons, ready to fire.

"Alright, now!"

A barrage of gunfire filled the air. As the marines stood up and fired on the rock the Coveannt squad were hiding behind. As soon as the barrage started, Eve and the Arbiter ran full speed out from behind their cover towards the other rock. They had to be quick in case the Covenant had a chance to fire on them.

The two reached the rock and ducked down behind it and waited. The barrage stopped a few seconds later and the air was filled with shouts and barks from the Covenant side of the hill. Eve slowly poked her head up from behind the rock to see the Covenant squad looking over at the rock the marines were hiding behind. Miraculously, they had not been seen. This was perfect. The Covenant squad was absolutely unaware that two of their enemies were hiding nearby and were in easy range of being fired on.

"Get ready to fire on them," Eve whispered to the Arbiter, who replied with a nod and raised his weapon so the top of it was just on the top of the rock.

"Three…" Eve whispered as she sat up and aimed her weapon at the Covenant squad. The Arbiter did the same. "Two… One. Now!"

The screams of dying Covenant filled the air as Eve and the Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts and orange spikes at the Covenant squad. The Grunts were hit first and fell to the ground dead. The Jackals followed the same fate quickly afterwards. One of the Brutes was hit in the face by a spike, followed by two blasts to the chest. The creature roared one final time before he fell to the ground, dead.

"MOVE, YOU FOOL!" the golden armoured Brute roared at the teal green armoured Brute.

The teal green armoured Brute ran out from behind the rock. Big mistake. He was fully exposed. Before Eve or the Arbiter could hit him, the marine quickly fired on the Brute. The barrage easily broke through the armour on the creature's back and tore through his chest, killing him.

The golden armoured Brute roared in frustration and threw his weapon to the floor. He then grabbed his helmet and tore that off his head and threw that to the ground.

"It is time for you two to die!" the Brute roared at Eve and the Arbiter.

The Brute charged towards the two like an enraged bull. It was beserking! Eve had seen this happen to the Brutes many times before, mostly when she was on High Charity. Before she and the Arbiter could fire on the creature, the Brute jumped into the air and swung both his fists at them. One hit the Arbiter in the lower mandibles, sending him to the ground. The other struck Eve in the cheek. Eve yelled out and grabbed the side of her face to stop the pain from flaring across her face.

The Brute stood over Eve and kicked her plasma rifle out of her hand. The Arbiter tried to stand up but the Brute only flicked his arm out at the Elite, striking him in the face and sending him crashing to the ground. The Brute turned back to Eve and kicked her in the chest and again in the stomach. He then raised his foot over her head. Eve's blurry vision saw this but she was too weak to stop the Brute. It looked like she was dead.

Suddenly, the Brute fell backwards onto the ground, roaring in pain. Eve's eyes widened as she sat up. Then, she saw the Arbiter grab the brute and, with all his strength, throw the Brute over the edge of the hill. The Brute's screams filled her ears but after a few seconds, they grew silent.

"Are you alright, Eve?" one of the marines asked as the squad ran up to her.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied as she stood up. She looked at the turret. "Now we just have to find a way to destroy this thing,"

"How?" one of the marines asked.

"Anybody good at climbing?" another inquired.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"Eve?" came John's voice. "That gun's been firing non-stop, so It's gonna be hot. It'll open up It's access panel for a few seconds to cool down,"

Just as John finished speaking, as if on cue… BOOM! The turret fired again. The squad watched the blast narrowly miss the top of another hornet. Then, a loud but quick whirring sound filled the air. It was coming from the bottom of the turret. The squad looked and saw what looked like the entire bottom of the turret opening up. A large saucer shaped floor lowered down from the turret. Clinging onto the sides were three huge pincers that were connected to something inside the turret's lower interior. In the middle of the saucer shaped floor was a large glowing white sphere.

"Fire on that sphere!" the Arbiter ordered as he raised his spiker and fired a few orange spikes at it.

"What'll happen?" a marine asked him.

"If we fire on that sphere, it will detonate and the turret will collapse." the Arbiter replied. "Now we must hurry. Your ships are almost here,"

The Arbiter went back to fire on the sphere. The rest of the squad did the same. As the bullets and blasts collided with the outside of the sphere, it started to glow brighter. At one point, the squad had to start looking away slightly to avoid going blind from the light. Then…

BOOM! A loud electrical hissing sound filled the air as the sphere exploded. The metal pincers collapsed and fell to the ground with the saucer shaped floor that had been holding up the sphere. Another loud explosion erupted in the centre of the turret, followed by a loud grinding sound. The squad looked up and saw the cannon at the top of the turret list slightly to the left. All of a sudden, it snapped and fell off the turret, landing with a loud crash onto the ground. The cannon fell over the side of the hill and rolled down the cliff to the ground far below.

The squad let out a heroic cheer. It was done. The turret was destroyed and with it, the Covenant's defences in this area.

"Evelyn," the Arbiter said, drawing her attention. "Look,"

The Arbiter pointed out towards the storm raging above the Ark. It seemed to be… fading. There was no more lightning coming from the clouds and they even seemed to be retreating back over to the sky above the Ark. What was going on?

Eve walked past the marines and the Arbiter over to the side of the hill. About ten feet below her was a small path that was about fifteen feet wide and must have been about forty feet long. It led down from behind where the Covenant squad had been hiding and across the side of the hill before coming to an end, which had been broken off a few metres to Eve's left below her. She jumped down onto the path, landing with a loud thud. As she stood up, another loud thud erupted behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw it was the Arbiter. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the path and looked out at the Forerunner dreadnought as if he were expecting something to happen. Eve was expecting something as well. She scanned the skies in front and behind her. Where were Hood's ships?

**Meanwhile, below the Forerunner dreadnought**

On the wide metal surface of the centre of the Ark, a group of three brutes, two of them wearing teal green armour and both being led by a Brute wearing dark red armour, were running towards the very middle of the centre of the Ark. Standing high over them was the enormous Forerunner dreadnought. They had just completed the last stages of Truth's plan here and were now heading back to the ship to be beamed on-board.

When they were near the middle of the Ark's centre, the red armoured Brute took out a small glowing white circle. From his belt. He pressed a button on the side of it and a small four inch high hologram of Truth shot up from the centre of the circle.

"Holy prophet," the Brute said to the hologram of his leader. "We have placed the keys in the activating system,"

_"Excellent,"_ the hologram replied. _"Now hurry and get on-board! The Journey will not wait for anyone, and neither will I,"_

"Yes, holy one," the Brute said to Truth, taking a small bow as he ran. "But I must warn you holy prophet, the Humans have destroyed the anti-air turret at the Human settlement of Voi,"

_"That matters not,"_ the hologram replied. _"Even if they destroy all of them, the Humans will be too late,"_

**Meanwhile, at the turrets remains**

Eve and the Arbiter looked at the dreadnought as if they could see the Brute and Truth talking. They were starting to get anxious. Hood's ships had to hurry, otherwise this entire operation would have been all for nothing-

VROM! VROM! Eve and the Arbiter looked up and saw two long sword fighters fly overhead towards the Forerunner dreadnought. Then, another followed them, only behind it were at least thirty more. The fighters zoomed towards the dreadnought. Eve and the Arbiter watched them. A spur of relief swept through them. They had arrived, and they were just in time.

Suddenly, enormous explosions erupted across the top of the dreadnought's surface. An enormous cloud of smoke rose up into the air. Eve and the Arbiter expected the craft to collapse, but that did not happen.

Then, an enormous shadow passed over the hill, darkening it completely. Eve and the Arbiter looked up and saw the bottom of an enormous ship fly overhead. It was a UNSC frigate. In large white letters across the side of the front were the words _Forward Unto Dawn_. Hood's flag ship. Flying alongside were two more enormous frigates; the _Starscreen_ and the _Athena_.

_"All ships!"_ came Hood's voice through her ear radio. _"Fire at will!"_

As soon as Hood finished speaking, the _Forward Unto Dawn_ fired a projectile from It's main cannon towards the dreadnought, filling the air with a deafening boom. The _Athena_ did the same with the _Starscreen_ cannon following. Three more enormous explosions erupted on the side of the dreadnought, covering it in fire. Eve smiled and the Arbiter let out a triumphant roar. They had succeeded. The dreadnought was destroyed and with it Truth's chance of activating the Ark. It was done.

Then, the wall of fire around the craft disappeared in the blink of an eye as if some magic wind had blown it out. Eve and the Arbiter's thoughts of victory were quickly swept from their mind as the fire being put out revealed that the dreadnought had not even a scratch on It's surface. It was completely unscathed. Eve and the Arbiter looked at each other and then back at the dreadnought. Both were thinking; How the hell did it survive an attack like that?

They were in for a bigger shock.

Suddenly, an enormous blue light, as if activated by the dreadnought itself, lit up from around the centre of the Ark and spread out across the rest of the metal surface to the edge before disappearing. Then, the sound of something big and metallic moving filled the air, even with Eve and the Arbiter at least a few miles away it was almost loud enough to make them cover their ears, as large petal shaped fins slowly rose up into the air around the side of the entire Ark. Then, the centre that the dreadnought was resting on began to descend into the ground. Eve and the Arbiter watched all this unfold, absolutely breath taken.

"We are too late!" the Arbiter whispered, though Eve heard the panic in his voice. "He has activated the structure!"

No! That could not be true. Truth could not have done that! Not when they were this close to finally stopping him!

"What the hell's going on?" the two heard a marine shout as the rest of the squad stopped on the side of the hill above them.

They watched as the dreadnought's tall spire disappeared into the metallic structure as if it were eating it whole. Just as the tip of the spire disappeared, a light blue light suddenly shot into the air from the dreadnought. Eve's eyes followed it into the air, but they were quickly drawn to the large fins, each one must have been at least half a mile tall and probably half as long, which were standing with the tops almost facing directly up into the air. The blue light coming from the dreadnought was shooting faster into the air. It looked as though it were charging up. What was going to happen?

Suddenly, the blue light shone lit up the sky as it grew wide and took over at least half of the centre of the Ark. Eve and the Arbiter looked away. A few shouts and grunts above them indicated that a few of the marines had fallen over whilst trying to cover their eyes from the bright light. Then, as Eve partially looked back, saw a dark blue haze shoot out from the light in a powerful gust of wind. It was so powerful and struck so quickly that the Forward Unto Dawn even began to dip down towards the Ark's surface. A longsword fighter that was flying past it quickly fell out of the air to the surface of the Ark and exploded, but, like when the projectiles were launched at the dreadnought, not even a scratch was made.

Seconds later, the gust of wind reached the hill side. Eve and the Arbiter were thrown against the side of the rock behind them with such force that they were lucky not to have been knocked out, or even killed. The squad above them was either blown to the ground or, for an unlucky worker, blown into the air before falling down the side of the hill to the ground far below.

Eve stirred as she looked up at the now tower of light, which had now dimmed enough for her to look directly at it. She saw it turned a darker blue colour. The blue haze was surrounding the air around the centre of the Ark as if it were some kind of indestructible wall.

Then…

**VVVRRRROOOOOMMM!** Another gust of wind flew into Eve and the Arbiter. It was so powerful that the Elite was knocked out almost instantly. Eve managed to stay conscious for a few seconds longer but the wind was too strong. Her vision was fading. She felt as if her life was slowly draining away from her. Finally, they closed, but before she passed out, another voice echoed in her ears. One that she knew and heard very well.

**"This is the way the world ends,"**

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Ugh!"

Eve awoke with a stir as she placed a hand on her head. She sat up and looked over at the Arbiter, who was also starting to regain consciousness. How long had they been out? More importantly, what had happened? Had Truth activated the rings? Or had he done something else?

As Eve looked up at the Ark, she saw something in the sky out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and saw a circle hovering about a mile, maybe just under a mile, above the Ark. It was dark blue around the sides but what was really strange was that the centre of it was completely black. Light blue hazes were travelling through the air from the top of the fins up to the circle, probably how it was being formed.

The wind had died down and the storm seemed to have disappeared as if by magic. The UNSC frigates were slowly turning around in mid-air, though there were dipped forward slightly as if they were purposely trying to crash into the ground.

_"(Cough) W…(cough)… what did Truth just do?"_ Hood's voice demanded through Eve's ear radio. _"(Cough, cough)… Did he activate the rings?"_

_"No, sir,"_ came Mary's voice. _"But he certainly did something,"_

As Eve and the Arbiter stood up, they watched the Forerunner dreadnought fly up towards the circle, leaving a white/light blue trail behind it from It's enormous engines built into the bottom of the craft. When it reached the circle, it went through it but did not come out of the other side. The circle was a portal.

A loud roar near Eve caught her attention. She looked and saw it was the Arbiter roaring in frustration. He was filled with anger, fury and…rage. It boiled out over all his other emotions and swept them aside like a flood. He was furious! They almost had Truth! Now he had escaped and this was probably the last time they were going to be able to get him.

Eve felt the same way. She too was angry, but she was also worried and scared. Truth had escaped her once again, and now the consequence was probably going to be fatal. Not just for her or the Arbiter or humanity, but every living being in the galaxy.

As Eve looked back up at the circle, the rest of the Covenant fleet flew up into the circle and disappeared through it. Eve sighed in defeat.

_It's done._ she thought. _That's it. We've lost._

_"Evac wounded and regroup,"_ Hood's voice ordered. _"Where ever Truth went-"_

_"Sir, we got a new contact slipping in!"_ came another voice that sounded alarmed and even worried.

As if on cue, a bright light lit up the sky to the left of the area. Eve and the Arbiter looked and saw a huge white hole appear in the sky. It was a wormhole. Even though it was well over a mile away, they raised their weapons at the circle as if they could easily kill whatever was going to come out of it. The reason they were both alert is because the Covenant use these to jump from one area of space to another, like light speed travelling.

No sooner than a second passed after the hole appeared before something came shooting out of the hole. The wormhole disappeared. The object must hav been on fire because as it was flying through the air, a trail of smoke was being left behind it. What was it?

As the object flew out of the hole, it headed straight for the ground. Then, it suddenly turned right and headed straight for the hill Eve and the Arbiter were on. They rasied their weapons as the object came closer. They were both getting tenser as it came closer to them. It was just a few thousand feet away when they saw it was a Covenant CCS battle cruiser, or what was left of it.

The ground shook violently as the craft flew overhead. Eve and the Arbiter looked up and watched it. Eve managed to catch sight of a few enormous growth-looking things sticking to the bottom of the craft. The ship fly over the hill and the nearby buildings before banking right again and heading straight for the ground.

_**BOOM! **_The explosion was so powerful that the shockwave made the hill and even the AA turret's remains shake. Eve and the Arbiter looked at each other wide-eyed.

The CCS battle cruiser had crashed.

Why? Why had the Covenant crashed one of their own ships. It could not have been from in space above the planet because there would have been no point in using it, and there most likely would not have been any time to activate either. Wait a minute.

Eve had seen those enormous growths on the bottom of the ship before, but she could not remember where. She searched her thoughts, hoping to find an answer. Wait! Now she recognized them! They were on High Charity when… Oh no!

"Oh no!" Eve whispered as she almost fell over from the shock. "This can't be! They can't be here! This… This can't be happening!"

"What is it, Evelyn?" the Arbiter asked, concerned over her sudden spurt of worry. "Is it more Brutes,"

Eve shook her head and turned to look at the Elite. He saw the terror in her eyes. Whatever this was, it had to be something important…and bad if it was scaring Eve this much. She replied with one word:

"Worse,"


	7. Floodgate

**Date: April: 19:42pm **

**Location: Voi, Kenya**

"What is it, Evelyn?" the Arbiter, concerned over her sudden spurt of worry. "Is it more Brutes?"

Eve shook her head and turned to look at the Elite. He saw the terror in her eyes. Whatever this was, it had to be something important…and bad if it was scaring Eve this much. She replied with one word:

"Worse,"

The sky began to turn dark, not pitch black like it normally would when night came but a dark green colour. It was like a shadow had swept over the land and covered it completely. It was like in films of good against evil. The shadow was always known as the evil side and it wanted to cover everything. Eve had never even thought that this shadow would ever become a reality, but now that 'they' were here, there was no stopping it.

Eve looked back at where the CCS battle cruiser had crashed. They were here. The one enemy Eve, humanity, the Arbiter, the entire Covenant and even Truth, who the Covenant had seen as not scared of anything, truly feared and even the enemy that had been at war with the Forerunners millennia earlier.

I… It was t-the…

"_The Flood!" _Mary's voice said worryingly, which Eve heard through her ear radio. _"I-It's spreading all over the city!"_

"_How do we contain it?" _Hood's voice asked.

"_Find the crashed Flood ship; overload It's engine core," _Mary replied. _"We either sacrifice this city, or risk losing the entire planet," _

"_Do it," _Hood said.

"_Eve, make your way to the crash site," _Mary ordered.

Eve ran up the pathway with the Arbiter towards the side of the hill. They had their orders, but would they succeed? This was not the Covenant, this was the Flood. They were not going to be as easy to defeat but what if they spread too quickly? What if they managed to get away from Voi?

It was then Eve was stuck by a terrible thought. What if they spread out to quickly across the country to be contained? Or the continent? Or worse, the planet? If they destroyed the UNSC forces on Earth, then there was pretty much no hope left for any other surviving Human colonies across this Sol of the galaxy. If the Flood won here, then mankind was finished.

No! Eve was not going to let that happen. She had lost too much in this war with the Covenant. The rest of the Human race was not going to be taken as well. They were to defeat the Flood and destroy them, or at least drive them from Earth. Eve was going to make that happened, even if it meant she had to go down with the Flood.

She and the Arbiter ran off the pathway onto the hill. Out of the squad that had fought with Eve and the Arbiter to the turret, there were now only four left. One had been blown off the side of the hill by the wind. The rest had either struck their heads on the rocks when the wind had blown them over or, at least one died from this, were crushed by large chunks of the Covenant AA turret's remains.

"You guys okay?" Eve asked them as they ran over to her and the Arbiter.

"We're fine," one of the marines replied. "Could you believe what just happened? I've never seen anything like it,"

"Neither have I," Eve said. "But we'll have to talk about it later. Right now, we have to get to the other side of Voi and destroy the ship that crashed. The Flood were on it,"

A few of the squad members exchanged confused looks but before they could either of them Eve and the Arbiter were running down towards the way into Voi. The squad members decided it was best to ask them later and followed.

As Eve and the Arbiter reached the start of the pathway that led into Voi, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_All squads report!" _came a marine's voice.

"_Multiple contacts, sir," _came another marine's voice. _"Unknown hostiles,"_

As the two ran down onto the path, a loud growl made the shudder. They looked up just in time to see something fall onto the roof of the rectangular building to their left. Eve gulped. That was most likely a Flood combat form, and that was only one. There was no doubt going to be many more of them throughout Voi.

The two turned left and ran down the pathway towards the turning that led right. The squad had managed to catch up with them and were following close behind. Scattered up and down the path were the remains of one of the crate moving vehicles. The front had been crushed and torn in two. The back, for the crate, had also been crushed and almost compacted into a cube. The body of one of the Brutes was lying on the ground nearby. The wind or the crash must have blown him away from where he had been killed.

"_There! Over there!" _a marine's voice exclaimed, which Eve heard through her ear radio.

"_We're surrounded, sergeant!"_ another marine warned.

They sounded close. They had to be nearby as Eve and the Arbiter had just seen a combat form. If the marines sending the transmission were near then they had to hurry squad ran to the end of the pathway and turned right towards the road that led from the warehouse to the gate. The fire that had been raging in the small cube shaped building had been put out. Some of the remains of the vehicles were now scattered everywhere, as were the bodies of those who had been killed.

"Sergeant! C'mon!" a female voice shouted.

A marine ran out from the remains of the cube shaped building. He waved at the squad as they approached.

"Hey guys," he shouted. "C'mon, we need to get inside. Something's chasing u-AAHHH!"

Suddenly, a wave of brown descended over the marine. He screamed loudly and fell to the floor, shaking violently.

Eve ran forward towards the marine. She fired a few blasts at the wave of brown. Small explosions, which sounded like balloons popping, erupted over it. Like a wave of bugs scattering in the light, the wall broke apart. Eve saw them to be infection forms, the creatures that infected hosts and made the Flood hordes grow.

However, it was the marine that was drawing Eve's attention. He was lying on the floor shaking violently as if he were having a fit. The squad, along with two other marines who were standing outside the now closed blast door that led into the warehouse, fired on the remaining infection forms, making more popping sounds fill the air. Eve ran over to the shaking marine and knelt down beside him. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. As if she had a magic touch, the marine stopped shaking immediately.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked the marine as he stirred and looked up at her.

He was about to reply when…

"AAAAHHH!" Eve screamed.

She scrambled backwards away fro the marine as a huge brown growth grew on his shoulder. The sound of skin and flesh tearing was enough to make her retch. She watched in horror as another bulge grew on the marine's back and his arms became horribly mutilated and grew long tentacle-like fingers at the hands. The head was even pushed out of It's place and a new, more horribly monster/mutant-like one grew out of the torso. The marine stood up and looked at Eve. She went wide-eyed at the sight before her.

The marine was now a combat form and a new addition to the ever growing army of Flood.

The combat form growled and charged towards Eve. She grabbed her plasma rifle, which she had dropped when she darted away from the marine, and fired a few blasts at the creature. The blasts took of one of the arms and hit the creature in the chest. The combat form fell backwards onto the floor, dead. As Eve stood up, she fired a few more blasts at the creature, just to make sure it was not going to get up again.

THUD! Eve gasped and shot round. Standing in front of her was another combat form. However, this was one she had never seen before. It had a huge growth over the upper part of the body that was so big that it looked as though it were all tipping towards one side, a short stubby arm sticking out of one side and a long one sticking out of the other side of the torso. It's legs were a dark brown colour and were covered with a small amount of visible armour. They were a Brute's legs.

So now she knew what a Brute looked like when it was infected.

The combat form growled and swung It's arm at her, striking her in the chest. She fell to the ground. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was empty! If the combat form hit her again, she was dead.

The combat form raised It's tentacle arm high above It's head. Eve went wide-eyed. This could be it for her.

Suddenly, the combat form flew sideways onto the ground. The Arbiter ran over to the dead creature's body and swung his plasma rifle at it. The body broke apart, ending any threat of the combat form getting up to fight again.

"Are you alright, Evelyn?" he asked Eve as he helped her up.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied.

"Look out! More of 'em!" one of the marines shouted.

Eve and the Arbiter looked towards the blast door and saw another wave of brown descend over the marines that were near the squad. Following close behind were a group of combat forms. The marines screamed as the infection forms attached to them. The female marine fell to the floor as one of the infection forms attached itself to her chest and began to eat away at it. Then, after a few seconds of burning and unimaginable pain, the female marine fell to the ground, dead. One of the infection forms drove into her body and disappeared. The marine's body shook violently on the ground before the retching bulges and growths grew on the body. The marine stood up, now another monster in the Flood army.

The other marine scrambled away from the infection forms towards the squad. The new combat form ran towards him. The marine yelled and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The combat form was hit and let out a shuddering roar as it fell to the ground, dead.

"What are you doing?" one of the other marines shouted at the marine as he ran over to them. "That's the sergeant!"

"That _was _the sergeant!" the marine replied.

The wave of infection forms moved across the ground towards the squad. They raised their weapons and fired on them. The infection forms popped like balloons. Eve and the Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts from their plasma rifles at the combat forms as they charged towards them and the marines. One of them, however, managed to get through the barrage and, with a swipe from one of It's tentacle hands, hit one of the marines in the chest and head, killing him. One of the remaining marines swung his battle rifle at the creature, breaking it apart and throwing the remains onto the floor.

When the last of the combat forms had been killed, the remaining infection forms scattered. The squad lowered their weapons.

"That was tough," one of the marines said.

"Stay alert," Eve said to the marine. "They'll be more where they came,"

_ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!_

The squad raised their weapons and aimed frantically at the surrounding buildings, expecting another wave of Flood to come charging out and attack them. The problem was; where was the roar coming from? One of the marines began breathing heavily frantically as if he were running a marathon. Eve and the Arbiter stood back-to-back and kept their fingers on their plasma rifles' triggers.

THUD!

"LOOK OUT!" 

BOOM! Something big exploded a few feet from the squad. Eve and the Arbiter looked towards them just in time to see a group of five infection forms attack the squad. One of the marines managed to shoot and kill one of the infection forms but was quickly set upon by another. The infection form drove deep into the marine's body, killing him. Then, the fit kicked in, followed by the growths and bulges appearing on the body. After a few seconds, the marine stood up, now another member of the Flood. The rest of his former comrades quickly suffered the same fate.

Eve and the Arbiter fired on the combat forms. Eve hit one in the side, shooting off It's arms. Another blast hit the combat forms in the head, throwing it to the ground where it lay still. The Arbiter fired a barrage at another two combat forms, killing one of them. The other, however, charged towards the Elite and swung It's tentacle hand at him. Luckily, the Arbiter ducked and swung his weapon at the creature's body, breaking it apart and throwing the remains onto the ground.

When Eve killed the last combat form, the Arbiter lowered his weapons and ran towards a small doorway that had been opened in the side of a small cube section of the warehouse sticking out of the right side of the door.

"Evelyn, this way!" he said.

Eve went to follow but quickly stopped and looked at the remains of the combat forms they had just killed. She felt horrible. Even though they were monsters, she was killing fellow marines. Ones that had helped her through Voi and destroy the turret and free dock workers taken prisoner, and now she had to kill them. She just wished she could change them and make them Human again. It just was not fair for these people, having to die a horrible death and to be brought back again a monster hell bent on killing everyone around him that was not one of his own.

"Evelyn!" the Arbiter, who was a few metres from the doorway, called, drawing her gaze. "There's no time! We must find their ship! Make short work of this abomination!" 

Eve sighed and ran over towards the doorway after the Arbiter. When they reached the doorway, they ran through it into a small square shaped room with another door on the wall ahead of them that led to another square shaped room. Another door was on the same wall in the next room that led to a purple/violet coloured floor.

"AAAAHH! HELP!"

A marine, armed with a battle rifle, ran towards the doorway leading into the room Eve and the Arbiter were in. Following him was a swarm of infection forms. One of them jumped ahead of the swarm and attached themselves to the marine's shoulder. The marine screamed as he dropped his battle rifle and tried to pull the infection form off him. The rest of the swarm were moving in for the kill.

Without thinking for her own safety, Eve ran forward and grabbed the marine and pulled him into the room to the floor. She then grabbed the infection form and pulled it off the marine and squeezed tightly. The infection popped, throwing bits of flesh everywhere. The Arbiter fired at the rest of the swarm as they came through the doorway, hitting one of the infection forms and causing it to pop like a balloon. The rest of the swarm quickly followed.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked the marine as she checked the wound.

A growth quickly popped as Eve touched it as if she had some kind of magic touch. The marine winced slightly as he looked at the wound. A brown/dark green liquid over the wound. The marine went wide-eyed and looked at Eve.

"Am I gonna be okay?" he asked her.

Eve did not answer directly, but was he going to live? The infection form had not been able to get into his body but what about this liquid? If that had Flood spores inside it, then they could quickly infect the marine and turn him into one of the Flood. Eve sighed. She felt like a doctor having to tell a patient that he/she was going to die. She just silently prayed that the marine was going to live.

"You should be alright," Eve finally replied. "C'mon, we need to go,"

Eve helped the marine to his feet handed him his battle rifle. They then joined the Arbiter and ran out onto the purple/violet coloured floor, which was actually the walkway they had seen when they passed through the warehouse earlier on. The big blast door that was on the left wall of the warehouse at the other end of the pathway had opened, revealing a dimly lit tunnel that led to another closed blast door about fifty feet away. About ten feet in front of the closed blast door at the end of the tunnel was a sandbag wall which two marines were standing behind. Ahead of the sandbag wall was a group of combat forms, made up of beings that had once been Humans and Brutes. There were more of them scattered around the rest of the warehouse.

"These things just keep coming!" one of the marines shouted.

"Don't let them get you!" the other marine, who was a female, shouted back. "If they catch you, you're dead!"

The combat forms standing in front of the sandbag wall charged towards the marines. The two fired on them, killing one of them, but the combat forms were too quick. One of them jumped over the sandbag wall and swung It's tentacle hand at the two marines, hitting and killing the male marine. The female marine backed away from the combat form was stopped by the wall. Another combat form jumped over the sandbag wall and let out a growl as it walked towards the female marine.

"NOOO!" she screamed. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

She went to fire a burst of ammo at the combat forms but one of them wrapped It's tentacle fingers around the weapon and pulled it out if her hands and threw it against the blast door, where it broke in two. The female marine gasped and shrunk down against the wall as the combat forms stepped closer.

"C'mon, we have to help her!" Eve exclaimed.

She jumped down from the pathway onto the floor. The Arbiter and the marine followed her, firing at the other combat forms scattered around the room. Eve ran over to where the open blast door had been and fired a burst of ammo at the combat forms. One of the creatures was hit and flew forward onto the ground, dead. The rest of the combat forms in the tunnel turned to face her. One of them growled and charged towards her but Eve fired another burst of ammo at the creature, killing it.

The Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts at a Brute combat form as it charged towards him and the marine. The creature let out a loud shuddering growl as it was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, fully dead. Another combat form ran towards them, hoping to do better than the other combat form, only to be hit in the face with a barrage of blasts and bullets.

Eve ran towards the sandbag wall and swung her battle rifle at a Brute combat form, breaking it apart and throwing the remains to the floor. She then ran over to the female marine, who had her arms covered by her head and was shaking slightly. Eve rested a hand on the marine's shoulder. The marine moved her arm slightly and looked up t see her.

"Oh, Eve!" the marine said in a whimpering-like voice as she embraced her. "Thank God you showed up! It was horrible!"

"What happened?" Eve asked the marine. "I thought there were more of you guys in here,"

"There were," the marine replied as she stood up. "But when something big crashed outside, these things just came in from everywhere and started killing us. You should have seen what happened to the bodies when these…things attached themselves to them! Oh, God, it was horrible!"

"You'll be okay," Eve said to the marine softly. "We need to get out of here and try and find a way to get transport."

The female marine nodded and ran behind Eve as they ran out from behind the sandbag wall and out of the tunnel into the room. The Arbiter and the marine had killed the rest of the combat forms. Eve and the female marine ran over to them.

"We need to find a way out of here," Eve said to the two as she reached them

"The dock workers would have most likely sealed the doors to stop these things from spreading," the marine warned.

"We'll go back through the aid station," Eve told the squad. "Whilst we're there, we'll try and look for a radio and see if we can contact any pelicans and evacuate everyone,"

The Arbiter nodded in agreement.

"It is settled then," he said. "Stay alert. The Flood will have more of their monsters ahead waiting for us,"

The squad ran on towards the blast door that led into the next square shaped room. When they reached it, Eve and the Arbiter saw that the room had changed completely. Most of the crates that had formed piles were now scattered everywhere. Also, there was a large hole in the ceiling, giving the four a good view of the dark green sky. A small cloud of brown hovered in the air of the room. The Flood had only been here a short time and, already, they already preparing to make Earth a new home, one that no other form of life would survive.

Eve raised her weapon and crept forward towards a large crate had been broken in two. As she reached it…

_HIIIIISSSSSSSS!_

A wave of brown suddenly fell onto Eve. She screamed out and inadvertently fired a barrage of blasts in all directions. Two pops filled the air and the wave quickly scattered. Eve saw that they were infection forms. At least eight of them. One of them jumped towards her but as it hit her suit, it popped, causing her shield to light up. Eve's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was in the yellow zone. Another hit by an infection form and her shield would be down and she would be done for.

As the rest of the infection form swarm moved towards Eve to attack her, a barrage of blasts and bullets, suddenly, flew at them. The infection forms popped like balloons. Eve looked at where the barrage had come from and saw the Arbiter and the two marines run over to her.

"Thanks guys," she said. "Alright, let's move on,"

Eve ran down a small path that led into the short rectangular section of the room. The squad followed. They ran down the rectangular section to the large blast door that led into the next room. As they approached it, they could hear gunfire and what sounded like shouting and loud growls. The Flood were obviously in the next room, but how many of them were there? More importantly, what kind were they? If there were too many Flood in the next room, then the squad would be stuck in here for a while. They could not afford to be pinned down. If they were stuck here, then by the time they fought their way past the Flood, they would have escaped Voi and would soon be spreading out across the country and, eventually, the continent.

The squad came to a halt as they reached the door. Eve peeked her head out from behind the wall to see the many metallic crates scattered everywhere, mostly in two piles at the sides of the room, leaving a path and a clear view of the rest of the room, and the metallic bridge that went across the middle of the room from the two large blocks, half destroyed. A large chunk of It's left side had been blown off but there was still part of it left to allow someone to get to the end. The room was dimly lit as the lights had either been smashed or fallen off the ceiling.

"These things just don't die!" someone in the room shouted.

A wave of fire suddenly shot down from the left end of the bridge at a group of figures at the other end of the bridge. One of the figures caught fire and seemed to explode as It's remains fell to the floor. A combat form. Another of the figures fired a barrage of light blue blasts at a marine that was holding a large weapon. The blasts hit the marine in the chest and face and he fell to the bridge's floor, dead. Another marine ran down the steps, which were on the blast door's side of the metallic block, to the ground floor, only to be set upon by a group of Human and Brute combat forms. The marine yelled and ran behind an overturned crate moving vehicle. The combat forms, including the one that had been on the bridge and had jumped down from it, chased after him.

"C'mon, there's someone in trouble," Eve said to the squad.

Eve ran through the doorway into the next room. The squad followed. When she was about half-way down the path, she stopped and fired a few blasts at a combat form as it tried to jump over the crate moving vehicle to attack the marine. The bullets hit the creature in the arms, shooting both of them off the creature. The combat form growled and charged towards her. Eve fired another blast at the creature as it came near her, hitting the creature in the face, fully killing it.

"Eve!" the marine trapped behind the crate moving vehicle shouted in relief. "Thank God you're here!"

The marine swung his battle rifle at another of the combat forms as it landed next to him. The combat form growled and fell sideways to the floor. The marine quickly sprinted out from behind the vehicle over to Eve. The rest of the squad reached her and fired on the remaining combat forms, fully killing all of them.

"Thanks so much!" the marine said, relieved, to the squad. "You saved my life!"

"Are there any more of your troops here?" the Arbiter asked the marine, who shook his head in reply.

"No," he said. "Me and Halls managed to get a flamethrower but they killed him. We're the only survivors from the aid station and we had to close the main doorway to stop them from getting through." the marine concluded.

_HIIIIISSSSSSS!_

Suddenly, two large figures jumped out from behind one of the crates and landed next to the squad. One of them swung It's tentacle hands at the marine with the wound on It's shoulder, killing him. The Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at the combat form, breaking it apart and causing the remains to fall onto the floor. The other combat form, who had knocked Eve and the other marines to the floor, charged over to the Arbiter and knocked the weapon out of his hand and pinned the Elite to the floor. It raised It's tentacle hand and went to bring it down but a burst of ammo from the marine's battle rifle hit the creature in the side, loosenig his weight on the Elite. The Arbiter punched the creature in the face, throwing it onto the floor. He then grabbed his plasma rifle and fired two blasts at the combat form's head, fully killing it.

"Wretched parasite!" he said as he kicked the body. "Rise up and I will kill you! Again and again!"

Eve scanned the room just to make sure there were no more Flood. They were none.

"Alright," she announced. "Let's keep moving,"

Eve ran over to the stairs that led up onto the top of the metallic block. The squad followed. They ran up the steps and down the bridge, passing the body of the marine with the flamethrower and having to go single file past the hole, to the end. They turned right towards the doorway that led into the building built into the wall. They ran into the room, which was, or had been, an office with a broken desk and computer lying in the corner of the room. A single light on the ceiling lit up the room. A large hole had been blown into the floor, probably making the office what it looked like. The hole led into another room below that was almost completely pitch, save for the light in the office.

The Arbiter jumped down through the hole to the floor below, followed by the two marines. Eve quickly looked over her shoulder to make sure no Flood were following them before she jumped down into the next room.

"Ah! W… What's going on?"

Suddenly, she felt drained. Her mind was racing, her vision was blurry and she was finding it difficult to stand. She ended up having to rest against the wall of the room to stop herself from falling over. Then, the entire room seemed to go pitch black. Eve placed a hand on her head as she felt as if something was crushing it.

Then, a purple light appeared in the corner of the room. Eve, through her blurry vision, looked and saw it was beginning to take form. It shifted and grew until it was in the shape of a figure. The figure stepped into the light. At once, Eve's pain and blurry vision all faded from her as if it were an un-curable disease going like a miracle. Eve looked at the figure and gasped.

It was Auto.

"Auto!" Eve exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, Auto fell to his knees and placed his hand on his forehead. Eve ran over to him and knelt down in front of him.

"Auto, what's wrong!" Eve almost shouted.

Auto looked up at her, revealing a look of pain on his face to her.

"**Eve…" **he managed to say.

"I'm here, Auto," Eve said calmly to him as if she were a mother tending to a frightened child. "What's wrong with you? Why do you keep appearing?"

**"I… I can-… Can't tell you every…" **he said to her. **"It's no-… safe. The G… Gravemind, it knows… I… I'm in… The sys-"**

Suddenly, Auto began to fade away. Eve tried to grab him but her hands went through him like he was a ghost.

"Auto! No!" Eve exclaimed. "Don't leave! Please! Don't go!"

Auto disappeared into thin air. Eve yelled angrily and pounded a fist on the floor. She had let him go again. What she wanted to know was; why was he tormenting her? This was the fourth time he had appeared to her or she had heard him. Something was going on and Eve had to find out what the hell it was.

"Evelyn?" a deep voice said.

Eve looked up at the doorway on the wall to her left to see the Arbiter standing there. He had a concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. "I heard you shouting,"

Could she tell him? No. The Arbiter would not believe her. He would just probably think she was crazy. Perhaps, for the moment, it was best if she just kept this to herself.

"I'm fine," she said to the Elite as she stood up. "Have we found a way through to the aid station?" she asked him.

"Yes," the Arbiter replied. "There's a corridor that will take us there. Follow me,"

The Arbiter turned and ran down the corridor; Eve followed. When they reached the end, they turned left and ran down the next corridor, which was longer. Ahead of them at the end were the two marines who were waiting for them.

"Are we close to the aid station?" the Arbiter asked them.

"Yeah, It's not far now," one of them replied. "Just down this corridor. C'mon,"

The squad ran left down the next corridor to the end. When they reached the end, they saw a smaller corridor leading off left to an open doorway. The squad ran down the smaller corridor and through the doorway. They found themselves back in the square shaped room that was outside the aid station, with four corridors leading off in different directions. They had come out from the left corridor. On the wall to their right was the corridor that led to the aid station. The squad ran down this corridor. A large room packed with tables and medical equipment was ahead of them.

However, as they neared the room, they could hear something. Eve skidded to a halt.

"Wait! Stop!" she hissed at them. They obeyed. "Stop!" she added when one of the marines had not heard her. 

"What is it, Eve?" one of the marines asked.

"Listen," she answered.

The squad kept quiet like mice. Very quickly, they heard the noise what made Eve stop. It sounded like someone was talking but in a mumbling manner. It's one was also quite high pitched and sounded scared. Maybe there was a wounded marine up ahead. Well, if there was then he/she was lucky as they had medical equipment.

As tey reached the room, they saw who had been mumbling. It was a marine male crouched in the top right corner of the room. Lying on the floor in front of him were the bodies of two marines. Eve could see a Flood tentacle arm lying next to one of them. On the floor around the two bodies were also a few tiny pools of dark green/brown liquid.

"I… I didn't have a choice!" the marine was saying in a traumatized manner. "T-T… The L.T… The sergeant!… They were all infected!"

The two marines and Eve ran over to him. The Arbiter ran over to the doorway that led to the next room and kept watch in case any more Flood appeared.

"What happened?" the female marine asked the traumatized marine.

"I… I could see… it crawling!" the marine was saying. He grabbed hold of the female marine's arms and looked at her wide-eyed. "I saw it sliding around beneath their skin! A-And then they got up!…" the marine let go of the female marine and broke out into sobs. "A- and they started to talk! O-Oh God! Their voices!"

The marine buried in face in his hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. The female marine embraced him and tried to calm him down.

Eve felt horrible. She could not believe how this sudden arrival by the Flood was affecting this marine. She felt really guilty because she was used to it, but he was not, and now he was most likely going to be mentally scarred for the rest of his life. He would never forget what he had seen because it would never leave him, not matter how hard he tried.

"There is nothing more we can do for him," the Arbiter said to Eve.

Eve just wished there was.

"You two go on," the female marine said to Eve and the Arbiter. "He'll be alright with us,"

Eve wanted to protest but stopped herself. After a second, she nodded and stood up. She and the Arbiter ran down the corridor to the room at the end. When they reached it, the room was now abandoned and the turret was lying on the floor next to the knocked over stand, Eve stopped and took one more look at the aid station. The guilt and sadness rose through her again, and she felt as if it were her fault. Eve sighed through gritted teeth.

"It's not fair!" she whispered to herself. "It's just not fair!"

"What is it?" the Arbiter asked her.

Eve looked up at him.

"What is it?" she repeated, stepping close to the Arbiter. "I'll tell you what it is! It's the fact that I'm stuck having to see marines getting killed, wounded and turned into… into monsters. And seeing someone traumatized is pretty much the one thing that dwarfs all of that!"

The Arbiter went silent and stared at her. Eve saw him and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Arbiter," she said as she sat on the sandbag wall. "I just… Can't stop thinking that everyone who I see getting killed, or wounded, or traumatized is my fault. I mean, I'm the last super soldier and yet when they needed me the most, I was up on High Charity trying to kill Truth."

"We have all done foolish things in war," the Arbiter aid to Eve as he walked over to her. "But you coming to Delta Halo and on High Charity was not your fault. Many things can go wrong in war. But all of that has passed, Evelyn. You are needed now by your people."

Eve looked up at the Elite. He was right. Many things can go wrong in war, but all of that was in the past now. She was needed by everyone now in they were to win this war.

"Thanks, Arbiter," she said after a few seconds, smiling a little.

The Arbiter went to reply when…

"_Hail, Humans, an take heed!" _a voice said from the Arbiter com built into his armour.

"What the…" the Arbiter gasped. "How could they get here?"

Before Eve could ask what he was talking about, the Elite turned and ran out of the room through the doorway that led outside. Eve stood up and followed.

The two found themselves on the large concrete pathway that ran along the rectangular building in the last dock area. However, other than the sky turning a dark green colour and the air being filled with clouds of brown, it had changed much. The dark green/born coloured ground at the bottom of the ramps had mostly been blown away. The large half ship was gone along with the scarab remains, the tops of both cranes and part of the rectangular building at the other end of the area. Large rocks and pieces of rubble were scattered over the remaining parts of the ground.

As the two ran onto the elevator and looked over the side at the ground, which had several combat forms walking about, a large shape in the air flew towards the building. The two looked up and went wide-eyed at what they saw. It was an assault carrier. Before it flew over the area, completely covering their peripheral vision, they also caught sight of three CCS battle cruisers.

"_This is the carrier, Shadow of Intent!" _came the voice again.

"Vadumee!" the Arbiter exclaimed.

Suddenly, four large cryo-tube shaped objects shot down from the back of the carrier to the ground. One of the combat forms growled as it turned to face one of the objects that crashed near it. Then, the side of the object opened with a crash. A barrage of blasts flew at the combat form, hitting it in the chest and head, fully killing it. A large figure ran out of the object. It was an Elite minor.

"_Clear this sector," _came Vadumee's voice. _"While we deal with the Flood!"  
_

The rest of the objects crashed open and the Elites ran out and fired on the combat forms. The combat forms charged towards the Elites and began attacking them.

__"Your brothers have come here to help?" Eve asked the Arbiter. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I did not know myself, Evelyn," he replied. "But that does not matter, they are here and we could use their help! Come,"

The Arbiter ran off the elevator and down the pathway towards the battle; Eve followed. The two ran down the ramp that led to the ground and fired on one of the combat forms as it went to strike at an Elite from behind, killing it. The Elite turned and saw them.

"Praise!" he shouted. "The Arbiter is here!"

The Elite then saw Eve. His attitude quickly changed.

"The demon!" he exclaimed. "What is she doing here?" he demanded.

_ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a large group of combat forms jumped up from below the cliff line onto the ground. They immediately set about attacking the Elites. One of them struck a minor Elite near the cliff in the back with It's tentacle arm, killing it and sending the creature over the edge of the cliff to the ground far below.

The Arbiter and Eve ran into the battle, firing a barrage of blasts at the combat forms as they went. The Arbiter managed to hit a Brute combat form, causing it to break apart and fall into pieces on the ground. Eve swung her weapon at another combat form, breaking that one apart as well.

When the Elites had killed the last combat form, the Arbiter ran up to a major Elite.

"My brothers," he said. "I am glad you are here."

"We bring grave news, Arbiter," the major Elite replied. "High charity has fallen! It has become a dreaded hive of the Flood!"

"And what of the fleet?" the Arbiter asked. The Elite did not reply. "Has quarantine been broken?" he asked desperately.

"A single ship broke through our line," the major Elite replied. "And we gave chase. It is unfortunate that it landed here,"

"B… But," the Arbiter stammered. This was the first time Eve had seen him really panicked. "I thought we had a fleet of hundreds to protect the city!"

"Alas, brother!" the major Elite told the Arbiter. "The Flood. It has evolved!"

"So we need to keep moving," Eve, who had stayed completely silence through the talking, piped up.

The Elites looked at her. The major Elite let out a deep breath in surprise.

"I did not expect to see you here, demon!" he said.

"The same for you," Eve replied.

"She is right," the Arbiter quickly cut in before the Elite could reply. "We must continue on. The Flood will no doubt be trying to flee before us,"

The Elites nodded and followed the Arbiter and Eve towards a large piece of the concrete pathway that had been blown off from the main pathway and now made some kind of ramp from the end of the pathway to the ground. A large blast door was open on the end of the rectangular building to the right of the squad. The part of the other rectangular building that connected to the one going across the back of the area had been blown off completely. Looks like they were going to have to take an alternative route to get through the building.

As the squad reached the bottom of the ramp…

_ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!_

They skidded to a halt and aimed their weapons out at the enormous dug out area, expecting a wave of Flood to come an attack them. Second later, their fears were right.

Suddenly, a large group of figures seemed to shoot up from the ground and head straight towards the ramp the squad were on. As they began to descend towards the squad, they were revealed to be combat forms.

"Fire on them!" the major Elite shouted.

A barrage of blasts flew at the combat forms. One of them was hit and hit the side of the ramp before falling to the ground thousands of feet below. However, the rest were able to get through the barrage and landed all over the ramp and began attacking the squad.

One of the combat forms swung It's tentacle arm at a minor Elite, narrowly missing it. The Elite retaliated by swinging his weapon back at the combat form. It hit the creature in the torso, breaking It apart. The major Elite fired a barrage of blasts at two combat forms as they ran down the ramp towards the squad, killing them both. The Arbiter and Eve stood back-to-back and fired at another group of combat forms as they landed near the top of the ramp. The combat forms were hit and fell to the ground, dead.

When the last of the combat forms had ben killed, Eve stepped forward towards the top of the ramp. She looked ahead and saw a large spire sticking out from behind the remains of the building ahead. Smoke hovered into the air from where the spire was sticking out from.

"That must be where the remains are," she said. "That's where we need to get to,"

"Then we must hurry, demon!" the major Elite said to Eve. "We seek the same prize. But our shipmaster will sacrifice _all _to stop the Flood."

All. By the sound of it, the Elite meant not just Voi, or Kenya, but probably Africa, or probably even the entire planet. If the Flood spread too far then there would be nothing to stop them apart from glassing the planet, sacrificing Humanity to prevent them from leaving Earth.

Eve snapped out of her senses. She would have to worry about what the Elite meant later. Right now, they had to stop the Flood before it spread too far.

Eve ran up the ramp towards the open blast door on the rectangular building's wall. The Elites followed. When they reached the blast door, they found themselves at the front of the other rectangular building's, or what had been the rectangular building, long cylindrical shaped tunnel that led down to the square shaped room with the railing pathway going along the wall to the doorway about twelve feet above the floor. However, the squad also saw a large group of figures at the end. Combat forms.

Suddenly, one of the combat forms growled and charged down the tunnel towards them. This attracted the attention of the rest of the combat forms, who also spotted the squad and charged towards them.

"Open fire!" the major Elite ordered.

A barrage of blasts flew down the tunnel at the approaching enemy. One of the combat forms was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, dead, followed very quickly by another. However, some of the creatures were able to get through the barrage and attacked the Elites. One of them swung It's tentacle hands at the Elite, striking him through the chest and easily breakig the armour and It's shield. The Elite let out a roar of pain as it fell backwards onto the floor, dead. Eve quickly fired on the combat form. The blasts broke it apart as they hit the torso and the remains fell to the floor.

Suddenly, just as the last of the combat forms had been killed, a loud growl from up ahead drew the squad's attention. The Arbiter ran ahead of the squad towards the square shaped room, which now had a large hole in the ceiling where the glass roof had been and the pillar had collapsed, blocking the path into the tunnel slightly.

It was then something crawling up the wall caught the Arbiter's attention. He looked and went wide-eyed. The thing was a creature. The strangest, and probably the most terrifying creature he had ever seen in his life.

The creature was an enormous, at least two metres long. It was a light black/dark grey colour and had the torso of a Human body and had four huge legs, all of which looked like mutated hands sticking out in the same places like a normal Human's arms and legs. At the ends were sharp claws akin to that of an eagle's feet. Sticking out of the back of the creature was a large brown abdomen. This thing looked and even acted like a spider as it crawled fast along the walls.

"Arbiter!" one of the Elites shouted as the rest of the squad reached him. "Is the way clear-"

The Elite was, suddenly, cut off when the squad caught sight of the creature. It looked at them, revealing a circular hole in the front of the creature with red tentacles moving to and fro around it, and growled.

"By the rings!" the major Elite gasped. "What is that?"

Before anyone could answer, the creature jumped towards the squad. It's four huge legs swung round and knocked the Elites to the floor. Eve dived away from the creature, hoping to get away from it. However, the creature chased after her on It's two back legs, raising It's front, ready to swipe them at her. Eve saw this and scrambled away from the creature as fast as she could, but every time she tried to get up, her feet would slip. What was worse, she was running out of room. She would be cornered and killed by this… Thing.

Suddenly, a loud screech filled the room. The creature staggered forward as if it were in pain. Eve stopped and watched as a dark brown liquid fell from the back of the abdomen onto the floor. The creature turned to face the Elites, who had gotten up and were firing on he creature. Eve saw her chance.

The Flood creature raised It's front legs, ready to charge at the Elites and cut them down. Suddenly, the creature screeched loudly as it flew forward onto the floor. It did not rise afterwards. Eve stepped over the body. Her plasma rifle had a brown spot on it from striking at the creature's back. She wiped it off with her hand.

"Not bad, demon," the major Elite said in an impressed tone. Eve looked up at him. "You are worthy against the parasite,"

"So are you," Eve replied, also in an impressed tone.

"Quickly!" the Arbiter piped up. "We must move ahead before of these creatures appear."

The Elites ran towards the steps that led up to the pathway; Eve followed. The squad went up the steps and across the pathway to the door that led into the next room. The Arbiter halted them and stepped into the doorway, his weapon rasied in case there were anymore Flood. He scanned the entire room like a radar. It was empty. The blast door that had led into here had been closed but a smaller doorway next to it was open. Hopefully, it lead outside towards the crashed CCS battle cruiser.

"It is clear," the Arbiter said to the squad. "Come, we must hurry,"

The Arbiter ran down the pathway. The Elites and Eve followed. As they ran down the steps, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve?" _came Mary's voice. _"The Elites are looking for something. We didn't believe them at first when they told us,"_

"It's Auto, Eve," came John's voice, which Eve breathed a sigh of relief at knowing he was not dead. _"He's on that ship! Find him-get him out!"_

Eve's mind went blank. Auto was on the ship! How? She had seen him in the warehouse not too long ago. How the hell had he managed to beam himself to her when he was on that ship?

_Oh, that doesn't matter! _Eve thought as relief overwhelmed her once again. _I can finally free him from the Flood! _

"_All units," _came the Elite's voice had heard to be called Vadumee. _"Prepare to attack the cruiser! Burn these vile creatures from their hive!"_

The Elite's let out a triumphant roar as they approached the doorway. This was going to be a hard fight. The squad ran through the doorway outside.

The first dock area Eve and the marines had fought through earlier had suffered worse than the last. The entire rectangular building at the other end of the area, along with part of the main one that went along the back of the area, was completely gone. Most of the ground at the bottom of the ramps was destroyed as well. Large crates and vehicle remains and chunks of the rectangular buildings lay scattered across the remaining area. This was enough to take anyone's breath away. However, what really shocked Eve and the Elites was that directly where the rectangular building at the other end of the area would have been was a large object that was covered with Flood growths and fires from the torn and shattered remains. This was it. It was the crashed battle cruiser.

Large spikes stuck out into the air where the engines, and possible even the back of the ship, would have been. A large pillar of smoke rose up from the ruins Eve found it really hard to understand how the Flood could survive a crash like that. The worst she had seen was a pelican crash on High Charity when the Flood was spreading out across the city, but a CCS battle cruiser crash? That was a completely different story. If that had been a UNSC ship, the possibility of anyone surviving it would have been _very_ low.

"_Arbiter," _came an Elite's voice through his armour's built in com. _"We are above the crash site. Hurry! We do not have much time!"_

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up but saw nothing. Where was it coming fro-. Suddenly, a large shape began to form in mid-air. As it became more visible, Eve saw it was a phantom, but the top of it was a different colour. Instead of being purple, it was a green colour. A second later, another appeared next to the first one. The phantoms hovered forward and fired a barrage of blasts down at the battle cruiser's remains. Almost instantly, a wave of creatures charged out from the ruins of behind the large crates or vehicles scattered everywhere.

"Charge!" the major Elite shouted, running ahead of the squad and firing at the wave of Flood. "Destroy these vile beasts!"

The squad ran after the major Elite and fired on the wave of Flood. Eve fired a barrage at a group of Flood Elite combat forms, hitting and fully killing both. The Arbiter swung his weapon at a Human combat form as it jumped into the air and tried to attack him. The combat form broke apart and the remains fell to the ground.

"HAHA!" one of the minor Elites shouted as he killed a Brute combat form. "These beasts are no match for u-AAAH!"

The Elite, suddenly, fell to the ground, dead. Eve saw three dark green glowing spikes in his chest. What the hell were they?

"Look out!" the Arbiter warned, pointing at the main rectangular building's wall. "The Flood have three creatures along the walls of the building!"

Eve looked at where the Elite was pointing. At first, she could not se anything because of the dark. Then, the silhouettes of three creatures became visible as they moved across the wall. Then they came into the light given off by the nearby fires, giving Eve and the Elites a clear view of them.

Using their legs to cling to the side of the wall, the creatures stuck out sideways/diagonally from the side of the building. They were much like the other strange creatures they had come across in the building moments earlier. However, instead of having a large brown coloured abdomen or four huge legs, they had two short and stubby ones but did have the sharp claws on them; these creatures had only a small main body that looked like the front half of the other creature. Sticking out from the top was a large flabby tail-like shape that almost looked like the abdomen of the other Flood creature. However, what made it different, apart from where it was on the creature's body, was that there were many large dark green spikes sticking out of the front of the tail-like shape. That was where the spikes had been fired from. A live creature that could fire projectiles was, no doubt, the worst thing to fight.

Suddenly, the creatures fired a barrage of spikes at the squad. Eve dived behind a nearby crate with another minor Elite. The Arbiter and the other two Elites dived behind another crate moving vehicle, narrowly missing a few projectiles as they flew past them and hit the ground.

Eve peeked her head out from behind the crate to look at the three creatures, only to move it behind her cover again as another barrage of green spikes flew at her, narrowly missing her face and hitting the ground. A large crate that had been blown on top of another was blocking any attempt by the phantoms to kill the creatures so it looked like it was going to be up to the squad to kill them.

"It's not going to be easy," she said to the minor Elite. "We need to try and cause a distraction,"

"It will be a hard gamble, demon," the Elite replied. "But, nevertheless, I will try and draw their fire at me,"

The Elite moved to the other end of the crate and looked out at the three creatures. Like what happened to Eve, he had to quickly move his head back behind the crate as another barrage of spikes hit the crate's side.

"Get ready, demon," he said to Eve.

She moved over to the Elite and stood behind him, her plasma rifle raised. The Elite took a deep breath, knowing that he could be killed by these creatures if he was too slow or something stopped him.

After a second, the Elite ran out from behind the crate towards another a few metres in front of where the Arbiter and the other two Elites were taking cover. A barrage of spikes followed him. Eve aimed her plasma rifle at the creatures and fired at them. The light blue blasts hit their target continuously. The creature let out a screech that filled the air as it was hit, but before it could so much move a final blast struck it in the centre of the main body. The creature fell from the wall and disappeared from sight.

The other two creatures screeched loudly and jumped from the building's side.

"Well done, Evelyn," the Arbiter shouted to her.

Eve watched as the two creatures jumped about to get away from where their comrade had been killed. One of them jumped onto he top of the two crates that had been protecting them from the phantoms. It growled loudly and fired a few spikes at the Arbiter and his Elites, narrowly missing them.

Suddenly, another loud screech filled the air. The other creature was hit and fell sideways over the side of the crate. A loud thud filled the air as the body hit the ground.

"_That's two down," _came the Elite's, piloting the phantom again, voice again. _"One more to go!"_

The last of the creatures jumped onto another nearby crate. The phantoms' cannons and the squad aimed at the creature to kill it.

Suddenly, the creature's tail bent forward and the creature itself began to shake. Not even a second passed before brown liquid began to shoot out of the sides of the creature. Two large spiked hands came out of the creature. One of them was large than the other and, in a way, resembled the metal sword arm of a Hunter as it was a claw shaped and did end at a bit of a point. The creature seemed to grow and expand at the same time. Finally, after the squad had been watching wide-eyed for a few seconds, the creature stood up on It's two huge legs. The creature's abdomen/tail had now disappeared, the skin had turned a darker brown and the creature now looked like an unstoppable monster.

"_By the rings!"_ came the pilot Elite's voice. _"The parasite have the power to change their form!"_

"Quickly! Kill it!" the major Elite shouted.

A barrage of blasts from the squad and even the phantoms flew at the creature. However, it only raised It's larger arm in front of itself. The blasts hit that but barely did any damage at all. Great! Not only was this thing huge and most likely fast, but now it had an arm that could withstand a barrage of any kind.

Suddenly, the creature jumped off the crate and charged towards the Arbiter and the two Elites. When it moved, it arms moved ahead of It's body and seemed to dig itself into the ground, where the creature would then pull itself forward. Within just a few seconds, it had covered at least fifty feet. When it was a few feet from the Elites' cover, it brought back it shorter arm.

SMASH! The creature swung It's shorter arm at the crate. Even though it was metallic, the crate was literally launched into the air and narrowly missed hitting the bottom of one of the phantoms. It fell past the cliff and disappeared from sight. The Elites scrambled away from the creature as quickly as they could. The creature, however, made a swipe at the Elites and managed to catch the Arbiter between It's claw. The creature held the Elite close to It's mouth as if it were going to eat him. The Arbiter squirmed and kicked to try and break free, but it was no use.

"Arbiter!" Eve shouted as she saw her ally in danger.

She raised her plasma rifle and fired a few shots at the creature. She must have hit a weak spot because when the blasts stopped hitting it, the creature growled and turned to face her. It threw the Arbiter on the ground and, using It's arms to move itself forward, charged towards Eve. She screamed and ran away from the creature as fast as she could but it seemed to catch up with her no matter how quick she was.

"AAH! OW!"

Eve found herself lying on her arm on the ground, landing next to a few activators. She had tripped over a piece of rock. As she sat up, a large creature stood over her. Eve's eyes went wide with fear and slowly travelled up a pair of short, stubby legs to a huge body with two large arms, one bigger than the other. It was the creature. It growled and rose It's larger arm. It was going to smash Eve to pieces! She had to do something.

Suddenly, the creature seemed to bend forward. It let out a growl that filled the air and shot round to face the Elites. Eve went o move but it was then she saw the activators on the ground next to her. They were energy sword activators. Maybe they could kill this thing. She doubted it, but it was worth a try.

Eve grabbed one of the activators. The deadly energy sword shot out of the activator. Eve ran towards the creature and swung it at It's back. A roar, that was so loud Eve had to cover her ears, filled the air. The creature stood rooted to the spot for a second before it fell forward onto the ground, dead.

"Nicely done, Evelyn!" the Arbiter said. "Now we must hurry,"

The Elites ran over towards the side of the ship; Eve followed. The squad ran up the side of the torn and badly damaged cruiser. After a few moments, they came to a halt next to a hole that led deep into the ship. They looked in and saw that most of the metal was almost completely covered with Flood biomass growth. Other holes leading through what were walls and floors led further down into the structure.

"_Arbiter," _came the pilot Elite's voice. _"We need to evacuate. Our ships are preparing to glass this area,"_

The Arbiter growled in disappointment. They had fought all the way through Voi to get to this ship and now they were going to have to leave. What was annoying was that they could have left earlier and glassed the area.

"I'm not leaving," Eve said, causing the Elites to look at her, aghast.

"What?" the Arbiter asked her.

"I'm not leaving yet," Eve repeated, looking at the Elite. "Auto's in there," she said. "I'm not leaving him in there. I'll contact you when I've got him," 

Eve went to jump into the hole but a hand stopped her. She looked and saw it was the Arbiter.

"Don't try and stop me, Arbiter!" she said sternly to him.

"I was not going to," he replied. He turned his head to the other Elites. "Leave without me," he said to them.

"What about when we need to pick you up?" the major Elite asked.

"Leave one of the phantoms nearby," the Arbiter replied. "I will signal it when I will be picked up. Now go, quickly,"

Without another word, and not wanting to risk an argument, the Elites turned and ran down the side of the cruiser to the ground at the bottom. One of the phantoms hovered down towards the ground and the side opened up. The three Elites climbed onboard and the craft flew up into the air. The other hovered back a few metres before it stopped.

"What about you, Arbiter?" Eve asked the Elite.

"I shall remain here," he told her, facing her and letting go of her arm. "I shall let nothing past," 

Eve smiled.

"Thanks, Arbiter," she said. "Wish me luck,"

Eve jumped into the hole.

Very quickly, the environment around her changed from a shattered town with burning metal and a dark green sky to almost completely brown/orange. The Flood biomass growth was literally everywhere. There were a few blue objects, or part of objects, most likely having been control panels or walls etc sticking out of the biomass, but because it looked so thick, which it probably was, there was no way these objects would be pulled out without destroying all of the biomass.

Eve landed on a biomass covered floor that stretched over what might have been a wall in a corridor as another opening led further into the ship. Eve raised her plasma rifle and jumped through the next opening into a large pathway that turned right. She walked down the pathway towards a large oval shaped room with large control panels and blue objects half sticking out of the thick biomass that seemed to spread over everything. At the other end of the room was an opening going through a wall of biomass into another large room.

As Eve walked through the room towards it, several large bulge shaped objects along the walls caught her attention. She looked and saw they were huge orange/light brown bulges that were shifting and moving from side to side. Eve looked at them in amazement. What the hell were they?

She walked over to one of the bulges attached to a huge wall of biomass over a control panel. When she reached it, she looked in closer to see the silhouettes of several small creatures moving about inside the bulge.

_What the hell…? _Eve thought.

"AHHHH!"

Suddenly, the bulge moved forward towards Eve as if it were trying to grab her. Eve screamed and almost fell backwards onto the biomass covered floor. The bulge then moved back and continued to shift and move. Eve, who was shaking slightly at being jumped like that, stood up and decided it was best to get out of this room and continued on towards the next room.

When Eve reached the opening, she saw a large hole in the ceiling, about thrity feet above her, leading back outside. At the other end of the room was a control panel that was sticking out of the biomass wall. It looked to be in perfect condition as if it had been preserved. Eve walked over to wards the control panel. As she neared it, she saw a small object lying on the side of the control panel.

Suddenly, when Eve was in the middle of the room, she began to felt drained. A quick sense of déjà vu ran through her mind. The last time this happened was when Auto appeared in front of her. Was he appearing again?

Then, everything seemed to move further away from Eve. Her vision began to go blurry. She tried to walk forward but found it hard trying to walk and she felt as if everything was shaking, even though it was not.

"**Do not be afraid! I am peace…I am salvation!" **

That voice. Eve had heard it before. It was the Gravemind's. Wait a minute, why was he here? There was no reason for him to be here… Unless he was here witness Earth fall and become a Flood hive.

Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, Eve's vision went back to normal and everything came back to normal. Eve was starting to get scared. Somehow Auto and the Gravemind were able to contact her through her mind, and they were both getting worse. She had to find out how they were doing this. Maybe in the object on the control panel, she could find out how they were contacting her through this form of telepathy.

Eve walked on towards the control panel. When she reached it, she saw a small button on the side of the object. She pressed down on the button. At once, it glowed purple and a haze shot up out of the object and took the form of a figure. Eve gasped. It was Auto. He was standing in his normal seven inch high avatar. Eve stepped away just in case something happened.

"_Eve?" _he said.

"A… Auto?" Eve inquired, stepping back towards him.

"_High Charity, the prophets' holy city, is on It's way-"_

The avatar flicked like a light bulb for a second before it disappeared.

"Auto!" Eve exclaimed.

She grabbed the object his avatar came out of and pressed down on the button. It had to work. She had to get him out of there and find out what he was trying to tell her. She was not going to give up yet.

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up and saw the bottom of a phantom hover over the hole in the ceiling. Eve aimed her plasma rifle at it and placed her finger on the trigger. She could not tell whether it was an Elite or a Brute control so she was not taking any chances.

The hole on the bottom of the craft opened. A figure hovered out of the craft and descended through the hole towards the floor. Eve aimed at the figure as it approached.

Suddenly, she gasped and dropped her plasma rifle. She went wide-eyed as the figure landed in front of her.

It was Wally.

"Wally," Eve whispered.

"Hello, Eve," he replied.

Then, Eve grabbed Wally and embraced him as tightly as she could as if he were a family member who had been missing for a long time but had finally returned. Wally embraced her as well. They were so happy to see each other again.

"LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled all of a sudden.

Eve shot round to see a Brute combat form charging towards them. Before Eve could grab her plasma rifle, Wally raised his left arm and fired a laser from the bulge on his arm at the creature. The combat form was hit and flew backwards against the biomass wall and lay still.

"Nice one," Eve muttered under breath.

Wally was not listening. Instead, he was over at the control panel and was trying to activate the object through a laser from the top of the bulge on his arm.

"We need to get this up to the ship," he said. "Hopefully, we can get this working,"

"Wally, wait!" Eve exclaimed, stopping him. "Auto's in there. Shouldn't we get him out first?"

"We cannot, Eve," he replied, facing Eve. "And if you worried about his safety, I assure you he will be fine,"

"_Oracle!" _came an Elite's voice. _"Hurry, the ships are moving into position!"_

Wally nodded and stopped firing the laser at the object. He picked it up.

"Here, Eve," he said as he handed it to her. "Your friend might appear again."

Eve looked down at the object in her hand with anxiety. She was worried. What if Auto was trapped in there and he could not get out? What if they could not get him out?

"Do not worry, Eve," Wally said to her softly. "He will be alright. I promise,"

Eve smiled at him as Wally took her hand in his. He activated is anti-gravity boots and flew up towards the circular hole on the bottom of the phantom as it opened. The two flew inside. The hole closed and the phantom turned and hovered off into the sky.


	8. The journey to the Ark

The phantom flew out of the clouds above the war torn town of Voi. Behind it, the spikes from the crashed CCS cruiser cut through the white vapour as if it were paper.

As the phantoms flew through the air, two Elite controlled CCS battle cruisers flying overhead fired beams of high energy plasma down onto the town and the surrounding area. They were glassing it. Although Voi and the surrounding area was being sacrificed, at least there was now no chance of the Flood escaping from the area to spread across the planet. The phantom flew towards a large ship flying ahead. It was the Elite assault carrier. The phantom was not even a dot compared to the carrier's enormous size, as it was over 17,000ft long. The craft flew underneath the ship towards It's enormous hanger.

**Twenty minutes later**

**The assault carrier bridge**

The assault carrier's bridge was a large spherical shaped room with It's walls and doors coloured dark blue/dark purple. There were four doors leading out in different directions on the walls. Around the walls between the doors were several control panels. In the middle of the room was a large prophet-like chair that was hovering. In front of it was a long table that was at least thirty feet in length and no more then ten in width. It was clear that it was a holographic table as a light blue aura was shining out of the top, which was the only source of light in the whole room.

Sitting in the hover chair was ship master Vadumee, who was, as usual, wearing silver armour. Standing around the room were more Elites, most of who were wearing light blue armour. Standing at the table was Eve. Next to her was Wally and then the Arbiter and then, standing at the end of the table, was lord Hood. Next to him was Mary.

Wally was still working on the device, as he had been for the past few minutes. So far, nothing was working. Eve was starting to grow anxious. She was still worried that Auto would be stuck in there and there would be no way of getting him out. Wally could feel her anxiety as if they were connected and he had again reassured her he would get Auto out of the device.

"Will it live, Oracle?" Vadumee asked Wally. "Can it be saved?"

Wally sighed and stood back at his full height.

"Uncertain," he replied. "This device. It has… suffered extreme damage. I'm not sure if I can save it,"

"Perhaps one of our technicians-" Hood piped up.

"That will _not_ be necessary!" Vadumee cut him off, adding a slightly stern tone on the word not.

"_Eve!" _a familiar voice said all of a sudden.

Everyone in the room looked at the device to see Auto's seven inch high avatar standing on it. Eve gasped silently. He was free! Now she could check if he was okay!

_"High Charity, the prophets' holy city, is on It's way to Earth, with an army of Flood." _he said.

_What's going on? _Eve thought worryingly. _Why isn't he asking what's happened? Something's not right!_

"_I can't tell you everything," _Auto continued. _"It's not safe. The Gravemind… It knows I'm in the system,"_

Auto's avatar suddenly stalled. He had stopped talking. Eve sighed and turned her head towards Vadumee.

"It's just a message," she said.

"Let it play," Vadumee replied in an interested tone.

Wally nodded and fired another beam from the top of the bulge on his arm at the device. The avatar came to life again.

"_But it doesn't know about the Portal, where it leads." _he said. _"On the other side, there's a solution. A way to stop the Flood, without firing the remaining Halo rings-"_

Suddenly, Auto's skin lit up. He gasped in pain and collapsed to the top of the device with his hands clasped to his head. Eve gasped and leaned forward towards the table to see if he was okay.

"_H… Hurry… Eve," _Auto's avatar said with agony. _"The Ark… There isn't much time,"_

The recording came to a sudden end, leaving the avatar staring with desperation at the people in front of the table.

Eve sighed and lightly pounded a fist on the table. Wally rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Eve," he said softly to her.

"No matter, Oracle," Vadumee announced, drawing the gaze of everyone in the room. "We've heard enough. Our fight is now through the Portal, with the Brutes and bastard Truth!"

The Elites standing around the room roared in agreement, raising their forearms as if they were trying to display their size and strength. Hood sighed.

"Fine," he said wearily. "We'll remain here. Hold out as long as we can,"

"Did you not here me?" Vadumee said with a slightly angry tone. "Your world is doomed," He stood up from his seat, standing at his full height. "A Flood army, a Gravemind, has you in It's sights! You barely even survived a small contamination,"

"And _you_, shipmaster, just glassed half a continent!" Hood replied, his voice rising. "Maybe the Flood isn't all I should be worried about," he added doubtfully.

"One single Flood Spore can destroy an entire species," Vadumee said to Hood. "Were it not for the Arbiter's that lead us here in time, I would have glassed your _entire planet_!" he added an angry tone on the last two words.

Hood angrily raised a fist at Vadumee and was about to reply, but Mary stopped him.

"Sir, Auto has a solution…" she said but was quickly cut off.

"Auto?" Hood interrupted. "Did you not see his condition? How damaged he is?"

Eve looked down at Auto's frozen avatar, which still lay collapsed on the table.

"He could be corrupted for all we know!" Hood continued. "His _solution_ could be a Flood trap!"

"Well, we should go through the Portal," Mary replied. "Find out for sure,"

"What we _should_ do, Commander, is understand- clearly- that this Humanity's final stand. Here. At Earth," Hood told Mary. "If we go, we risk everything! Every last man, woman and child! If we stand our ground, we might just have a chance."

"No!" the Arbiter, who had watched this completely silent, piped up. "If your construct is wrong…" he looked up at Eve. "Then the Flood has already won,"

"I'll find Auto's solution," Eve said, looking back down at the frozen avatar. "And I will bring it back," she added, looking at Hood and Mary.

Hood sighed.

"Earth," he said. "It's all we have left." he walked over Eve. "Do you trust Auto that much, Eve?" he asked her.

"Sir. Yes, sir," Eve replied with a nod.

"Then this is either the best decision you ever made, Eve, or the worst," Hood said. "Hell if it is, I'll doubt I live long enough to find out which,"

Hood turned and looked wordlessly at Mary before he walked towards the door on the wall behind them.

**Ten minutes later**

**The assault carrier hanger**

The hanger of the assault carrier was enormous. It was, no doubt, the largest Eve or Wally had ever been in. It was a large square shaped and was big enough to fit the _Forward Unto Dawn _inside it! The UNSC frigate was parked on the hanger's floor with It's loading bay open.

Two machine gunned warthogs drove towards the loading bay. An Elite phantom flew into the hanger and hovered over to a large 'parking space' along the hanger's left wall. Another flew in seconds later and came to a halt next to the first phantom that flew into the hanger.

A few metres from the _Dawn's _loading bay was a parked ghost and a few crates with Covenant weapons consisting of carbines, plasma rifles and beam rifles, resting on or against them. A beam rifle was resting against the side of the ghost. Sitting on the front of the ghost was a major Elite. Standing around the crates were about three special ops Elites in dark blue armour. Nearby, resting against a passenger warthog and a few crates, was a group of ODST marines. Even though the Elites were now Humanity's allies, it was obvious that the two groups still loathed each other and were more than happy to keep a distance from each other.

As one of the special ops Elites placed his carbine down on the crate, it was suddenly scooped up again, only not by an Elite. The Elite looked up in alarm to see John walking off, wordlessly, towards another crate. His arms were filled with two Covenant carbines, including the one the had just picked up, and a plasma rifle. He picked up another plasma rifle and placed it on the pile. The special ops Elites watched him in surprise.

As John passed the ghost, he bent down and picked up the beam rifle. The major Elite saw this and immediately shot up challengingly from the ghost onto the ground, standing at his full height, hoping to startle John and get him to drop the weapons. John, however, did not even flinch. He just walked on towards the ODST's, leaving the Elites watching him in alarm.

The ODST's began to talk amongst themselves about what John was doing. Suddenly, one of them stepped aside, which drew the attention of the other marines. The Arbiter walked past the marines. In one hand was a UNSC flamethrower. In the other was a rocket launcher, which was placed on his shoulder. The marines, like the Elites, watched as the Arbiter wordlessly as he walked past them towards the group of Elites. One of the marines went to step forward but was stopped when Wally hovered past him using his anti-gravity boots, leaving the marine standing there, speechless.

As the Arbiter and John passed each other, Wally hovered over to Eve and Mary, who were standing at the bottom of a small ramp that led up to a pelican's resting area. Standing at the back pf the craft was Hood. He was staring grimly at the two. Finally, the resting area's door closed and the pelican hovered out of the hanger and dipped down, disappearing from sight. Mary turned and walked towards the _Dawn's _loading bay to prepare to the battle ahead. Wally hovered down next to Eve and walked with her towards the _Dawn's _loading bay after Mary.

The fleet of Elite controlled CCS battle cruisers followed the assault carrier up through the night air towards the Portal. One-by-one the craft flew into the Portal and disappeared into it as if it were swallowing them. The Moon lit up the sky behind the Portal and the artefact, as if it were now the only light man had left.

When the last of the ships of the ships disappeared through the Portal, Eve knew that the Battle for Earth was over, but the Battle for the Ark was going to quickly take It's place.


	9. Looking into the past

**Date: **April 22nd, 21:00pm Earth time.

**Location: **Some where outside the Milky Way galaxy.

Mankind has always hoped to reach into space and explore It's many worlds and stars and reveal the secrets it may hold. The Milky Way, the galaxy where Mankind's Sol was located, was where they were to start. Since _Sputnik _was launched in 1947, space exploration and travel began to improve over the following centuries. Scientists were revealing more and more to the Human race on what the Milky Way had to hide.

But what about what lay outside the Milky Way? What did the rest of the universe, with It's many other galaxies, have to hide from man? What lay outside the Milky Way? Other civilizations? Other Sol's much like Earth's with planets almost the same?

For centuries Humanity had hoped to answer the many questions that lay outside It's own galaxy. By the looks of it, today that was going to happen.

About ten minutes ago, the Elites had left Earth via a large Forerunner portal the once united Covenant prophet had activated and flown through with his fleet of Brute ships, leading the way in his Forerunner dreadnought. The Elites, with an army of what was left of the UNSC, followed them in hopes of capturing Truth and destroying the Brutes.

In an area of space outside the Milky Way, nine small white circles appeared. Wormholes. Flying out of each wormhole came an Elite controlled CCS battle cruiser. Then, as the last of the CCS battle cruisers flew out of the wormholes, a larger wormhole appeared. The leading ship of the Elite fleet, the assault carrier _Shadow of Intent_ flew out of the wormhole into space. The wormholes disappeared.

_**Shadow of Intent **_**bridge**

In the bridge of the assault carrier, Vadumee was sitting back in the metallic chair. Other Elites, consisting of minors and majors, were working on the control panels. A large section of the ceiling had become a window, giving him a clear view of the surrounding space. Far ahead of the fleet was the strangest thing Vadumee had ever seen in his entire life.

It was a large flower shape with a circle shaped centre. At least ten large petal shaped fins sticking out of the circle centre. Each one must have been hundreds, probably even thousands, of miles long. In the centre of the circle was a large ball that had an Earth-like surface over it. What was strange was that over the rest of the entire object was also an Earth-like surface as if the entire thing was once a planet but had been broken apart. This was it. This was the Ark.

Vadumee growled.

"Vile beast!" he said, pounding a fist on the side of his chair.

"The prophet must have changed the destination from leaving the portal, shipmaster," one of the nearby minor Elites said.

Vadumee nodded in agreement.

"No matter," he said. "At least we are here now. Continue ahead towards the Ark. Truth would have already began preparing for our arrival,"

_**Forward Unto Dawn **_**bridge**

In the UNSC frigate's bridge, which was exactly like that of the _Amber Clad_, Mary was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. On the controls panels scattered around the bridge were workers. The ship was still parked in the _Shadow of Intent's _hanger but soon it would be launched to join in the battle against the Brute fleet.

A holographic image of Vadumee appeared in front of Mary.

"_Commander," _he said. _"We have come of the wormholes_ _a distance from the Ark. But we shall reach them, only If Truth's does not find us first,"_

Mary nodded.

"Understood, shipmaster," she said. "We'll begin preparing for the attack. Good luck,"

The holographic image of Vadumee disappeared. Mary pressed a button on the side of her seat. A small holographic image of John appeared on the seat's arm rest.

"John, prepare the ground and get them to the loading bay." she ordered. "Put all pilots on alert in the hanger,"

_"Understood, Ma'am," _he replied, giving a salute before the holographic image disappeared.

_**Forward Unto Dawn's **_**loading bay hanger**

**Ten minutes later. **

In the loading bay were ten parked pelicans with their landing gears unfolded and resting against the floor. Parked along the walls were several warthogs, machine gunned, grenade launcher and passenger. A large blast door on the back wall left to separate vehicle bays on the ship. Along the left and right walls of the loading bay were smaller doors leading off to different corridors. Large crates were scattered around the hanger, either on their own or in piles. Marines were gathered around them either loading weapons, most of which were Elite carbines and beam rifles John had 'borrowed' from the Elites, or going over their objectives for the coming battle. Everyone was nervous. This was uncharted territory in space. Then again, this was outside the Milky Way galaxy. The marines were wondering if they were ever going to see Earth, their families and friends they had left behind again. For many, it could and most likely would be their final hour.

Inside one of the pelicans, Eve was standing in the cog pit of the craft alone. She rested a hand on the craft's controls as if that would bring them to life. She was already wondering if anyone that would be on this craft would live through the coming fight. What she was worried about was that the pelicans here were to be the first wave of an attack force that would land on the Ark and fight their through the Brute lines. They hoped to get to some important location. What it was remained unknown.

"Are you okay, Eve?" came Wally's voice.

Eve turned her head to see him standing in the doorway. She nodded.

"I'm fine," she answered.

Eve walked towards the doorway. Wally stepped back and allowed her to walk into the resting area. He could feel her worry radiating off her like a radiator. She tried to hide it but she was not fooling anyone.

"You are worried about what is coming," Wally said.

Eve looked at him. After a second, she sighed and sat down on one of the resting area's seat.

"Yes, I am," she replied. Wally sat down next to her.

"I'm thinking of how many marines I see now won't be making it through the battle," she continued. "When we're in war, you can bond with marines like they're your family. I've lost a lot of family since this war began."

"This has happened before?" Wally inquired which Eve nodded at.

"On Reach," she said. "It was where… Me and sixty four other soldiers were amassed to be super soldiers. As we were the best the UNSC had to fight the Covenant, we were given these special bodysuits, much like the one I'm wearing now. We were to attack the Covenant, but they attacked us first and they killed all of the other super soldiers." Eve started to sniff and wiped away a tear from her eye. "Most of them were my friends. And then, I found out later that all the people I had in the job previously were also on Reach and they were dead."

Eve sniffed loudly. Wally placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"You were close to them," he said.

Eve snapped her head in his direction.

"Of course I was!" she snapped. "They were my friends, Wally. They were like family to me!"

Wally seemed taken aback by Eve's sudden jolt of anger. He moved his hand off her shoulder.

"I… I'm sorry," he whispered under his breath. "I just…" he trailed off.

Eve shot up from her seat. Anger and fury filled her eyes as she glared at Wally.

"You know… sometimes, I really wonder if you aliens can really understand what it is like to lose someone!" she half-shouted. "I really expected you to understand, Wally!"

Wally flinched and sank deeper into his chair. The guiltiness came down upon him like a weight. He had really upset Eve.

"I guess I was wrong," she said before walking off to the ed of the pelican and jumping down onto the floor.

Wally watched her as she stopped at the end of the pelican. She placed a hand on her head and sighed as if she had heard some bad news. Wally buried his face in his hands. He felt so stupid! It really was pathetic of him to say that Eve was close to her friends.

After a second, he stood up and walked towards the end of the pelican. Eve, no doubt, heard him coming but did not turn to face him. She just stared on as if he were not even there. Wally jumped down from the pelican onto the floor.

"I'm sorry, Eve," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder but she pushed it off. "I should not have said that."

She did not reply or even turn her head towards him.

"I know what it is like to lose a friend." he said.

"Yeah, well, I doubt it was worse than what happened to me!" Eve said.

"You are right there," Wally said. "But, I felt like my life had been taken from me when he died."

Eve looked at Wally, still having a slight glare on her face but it slowly subsided.

"Who was this person?" she asked.

Wally hesitated for a second before answering.

"His given name was Mendicant Bias," he explained. "He and I were… like no other friends. We were like brothers."

Wally sniffed and drew a deep breath. Eve felt sorrow sweep through her. It was hard to imagine that this man, who was hundreds of millennia older than her, was upset at the death of a friend. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"W… What happened to him?" she asked Wally.

He looked up at her.

"He died." he said.

"Well, I'm sorry," Eve said.

After a few seconds of being silent, she spoke again.

"How did it happen?" she asked Wally.

He turned his head to look at her.

"I will show you," he replied. "First, we need to find an empty room,"

"Why?" Eve asked.

"I will explain it when we are there," was Wally's only reply.

Eve sighed. The only way to get an answer out of Wally for now was to try and find an empty room.

"Alright, I know where we can find one," she said. "Follow me,"

She walked past Wally towards one of the small doorways nearby on the right wall; Wally followed. The door opened as the two approached it, revealing a long corridor with many doors along both It's left and right walls. Eve walked down the corridor with Wally following close behind. They passed a barracks, which was full of a few soldiers, a few weapon storage rooms and a large briefing room that was filled with a few UNSC officers laying out the plan of attack for when they would reach the Ark.

Eventually, Eve stopped outside another barracks and peered inside and looked around. It was empty. Eve placed her hand on a switch and, almost instantly, two lights in the room turned on.

"In here," she said to Wally.

The two stepped into the room. Eve shut the door and pressed a small button on it below the handle, which anyone entering the room would use in case the door's automatic opening system broke. A small red light appeared above the door and the words: **temporary lock **shined across it in black before disappearing.

"So how are you going to show me what happened to him?" Eve asked as she turned to see Wally sitting on one of the single beds nearby.

"Come over here," Wally replied.

Eve walked over to another single bed opposite Wally and sat down on it. He held out his hands towards Eve.

"Now put your hands in mine," he said.

Eve just stared down at them and then looked up at Wally. He could see that she was concerned.

"Eve, trust me," he said. "Do not worry, neither you or I will be harmed,"

Eve looked at him but, after a few seconds, decided to go along. She placed her hands on his. At once, Wally closed his eyes and went quiet. At first, Eve thought he was sleeping. Then, making her jump, he let out a quick, sharp breath. Then, he began to speak.

"_Post Divinum…" _He continued speaking. Latin? He was speaking Latin? Eve would have thought the Forerunners had their own language, but she never expected it to be Latin. She knew a little, she easily knew that _Post Divinum _was Latin for 'Divine Beyond' but whatever else Wally was saying was way over her head.

Finally, Wally stopped. Eve kept both her eyes on him as if she were a lion stalking a dear. With Wally around, anything could happen.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. Eve silently gasped having been jumped again.

"We are here," he said.

Before Eve could ask where they were, the room seemed to change. The room changed from a barracks strewn with beds to a shining white place that seemed to stretch on forever. The only things that remained were the two beds they were sitting on. Eve was feeling un-eased by this. Where were they?

"Where are we?" she asked, gazing around to see nothing but white.

"This is the place where the Forerunners left their knowledge," Wally explained. "Their technology, their beliefs, even their own minds much like in the way your friend, Auto. This is the real Divine Beyond, not what your enemies, The Covenant, believe in."

"Is this how your going to show me how your friend died?" Eve asked Wally, who replied with a nod.

Wally let go of Eve's hands and stood up.

"Come with me," he said. Eve stood up and followed Wally away from the beds.

At once, the two beds faded away, disappearing. Then, the room began to change from an endless white place to a dark blue corridor, which looked more like a room. Along both walls were large rectangular white hazes.

"Over here," Wally, who was now standing next to one of the white hazes, said.

Eve walked over to him.

"Place a hand on the haze," he said.

She did so. At once, the haze lit up, filling the room with a blinding white colour, causing Eve to look away. After a second, the light faded. Eve looked back at the haze to see a moving image of the Milky Way galaxy. The image spread out from the haze and covered the entire room, making it look like Eve and Wally were now standing on some invisible platform in the real space.

"Why are we looking at the Milky Way?" Eve asked Wally.

"This is where it all began," he replied. "This is a planet under the Forerunners,"

He raised his hand as if he was going to grab a nearby star. At once, the image changed from the Milky Way galaxy to a large planet that had both landmasses and seas covering It's surface, only the landmasses looked more like robotic land than earth. Several large green lights were spread out across the landmasses, forming strange circles that looked like robotic eyes. Eve examined the planet. Like Earth's orbital defence system, there were several dark blue, anchor-like ships hovering above the planet.

"**G 617 g," **a deep voice, that was coming from nowhere, said, making Eve jump. **"This is the world where the extragalactic beings descended upon us. Where the most destructive and costly war the galaxy has ever seen began."**

Suddenly, three large comets appeared next to Eve's shoulder. Each was no bigger then the palm of her hand. They fell high speed towards the planet, It's gravity taking hold of them and ready to pull them in. Eve watched as the comets fell through the planet's atmosphere and disappeared.

The scene around her and Wally changed from a view of the planet to a wide open space. The side of a large cylindrical structure, that stood well over fifteen hundred feet tall and probably almost twice as long, appeared in the image. Eve and Wally found themselves standing on some kind of walkway that went along the side of the building.

BOOM! An explosion above threw large chunks of metal to rain down on the pathway, taking off large chunks of it. A cloud of smoke filled the air. Eve and Wally looked up and watched as the smoke began to clear quickly, only because something was moving inside it.

Then, a large mutilated/light brown-like leg clamped down onto the side of the structure, followed by another, then by two more. Eve went wide-eyed and watched as a huge monster came, with a swish of It's leg, cleared away the last of the smoke cloud. It had a large mutilated/light brown-like main body with three huge eyes on the front. Hundreds of large tentacles, each one at least the height and width of Eve, stuck out It's sides and even It's legs, which had two on both sides. A huge mouth was spread across the front of the creature right underneath the eyes. Inside it, Eve could just about see many large, jagged shaped teeth and a tongue that looked like it had growth all over it.

The creature roared loudly and, making the structure but now Wally or Eve shake, climbed down the side of the structure. When it was about one hundred feet above the walkway, the back of it seemed to open up. A swarm of small creatures came out of the creature and fell onto the nearby sides of the structure or on or past the walkway. Eve looked at one as it landed nearby and saw it was a Flood infection form. The creature made some kind of slithering noise as it moved across the walkway, heading straight towards Wally.

"Wally! Get away from it!" Eve warned him.

However, he did nothing. He did not run or move as the creature came towards him, but he did face Eve.

"You do not need to panic," he said. "We are but an apparition. They cannot see us, hear us, and, thereby, do us any harm,"

Eve took this in but was still worried about the infection form as it came near her friend. Then, when it reached Wally, it just moved right through him as if he were a ghost. It did not attack him or climb onto him, or even stop for that matter, it just kept moving on down the pathway towards a large hole. Eve was completely breath taken by this.

Hundreds of other infection forms were landing all around. Each one either began moving towards newly made holes in the structure or the pathway.

"**The **_**Inferi Redivivus **_**spread like nothing we had ever seen before." **the deep voice piped up. **"Before we could access the situation, the world was overrun. Not one creature was spared. All fell to this unstoppable army of monsters from which we have never even dreamed of."**

The image around the room then changed again. This time, the two found themselves above the world they had just left, only now there were eight of these anchor shaped ships hovering in space directly above one of the large landmasses with the biggest green circle. They formed some kind of circle. Hovering in the middle of the circle was a beam rifle-like shaped ship that was much large than the anchor shaped ships.

Suddenly, the anchor shaped ships light up a light blue aura colour. Then, a laser from each one shot out towards the beam rifle ship, making it look like some kind of spider's web. The beam rifle shaped ship began to glow a bright blue aura colour. After about a second, another light blue laser shot out from the bottom of the craft towards the planet's surface. When it hit it, an explosion erupted from the centre of the green circle. Eve watched all this in amazement. Even the Covenant had no such technology as this. Being able to strike a target with such precision and inflict probably an enormous amount of damage to It's target.

"**At first, our technology, our courage, our hope, seemed it would prevail." **the voice said again. **"However, we failed to realise that this new threat was spreading too far and too wide for us to contain. It fed on intelligent life and with every world it attacked, all life forms on It's surface were wiped out and made into a monster to aid these creatures in their war against us,"**

The ships hovering above the planet then disappeared from the image. A new ship quickly appeared above the planet. It was a dark blue colour and was shaped like a dagger connected to the side of a sword. Attached to it was some kind of monster with huge tentacles that moved about in space as if they were going to catch a meal, no doubt showing that it was under control of the Flood.

Then, another of these ships hovered up from the planet, followed by another, and another, and another, and another. Soon there must have been about seventy of these ships hovering above the planet. Then, each of the ships began flying off in different directions, some going in groups of two or three. Eve watched as they flew into the darkness of space and disappeared.

"**Every effort to stem this advancing enemy was fruitless." **the voice said again. **"No matter how many ships, troops or weapons we used against them, all were met with the same defeat. For three hundred years, we fought the **_**Inferi**_**, but with every battle it became more and more obvious that total defeat was coming closer with every battle we lost,"**

The image changed several times. Each one showed battles between Forerunner ships and Flood controlled ships. Then, the image changed to some kind of city with large structures in all different shapes and sizes scattered everywhere. The sky was filled with an orange/maroon colour. Pillars of smoke rose from burning parts of the structures. Explosions filled the air. They had landed in the middle of an enormous battle with Eve and Wally on another walkway of a structure.

Suddenly, five pillars of light rose up from the pathway floor. No sooner then when they had come they had disappeared, only there were figures standing where they had been. The figures were dressed in cream coloured bodysuits and were wearing helmets that looked like the face of an eagle that had It's beak changed to go above a mouth, which was made to look like a rectangle with a point half-way down the bottom of it. Two sharp horns stuck out of the helmet on the sides of the mouth. On the front of the helmet were two small bead-like eyes, making the helmet look like it was the head. The figures were holding large C shaped objects with a fingernail sized glowing blue orb at the two ends of the object.

The figures ran past Eve and Wally down the walkway. Suddenly, a large creature jumped down from the top of the structure and landed several metres in front of them. It had a large growth-like main body part with three huge legs growth/light born like legs sticking out of the body. The figures stopped dead in their , the top of the creature's main body opened up. An endless swarm of creatures came out of the creature and began to move down the pathway towards the figures. The figures raised their C shaped objects. In an instant, the orbs lit up and each fired a blue laser towards the wave of infection forms. The lasers, as if they were alive themselves, began to spin around one another. Then, when they were about ten feet from their target, they clashed together into a large ball and, not even a second later, opened up in a large next. The net cut through the infection forms, killing about twelve of them, before the laser finally faded and disappeared.

Although their technology was impressive, it was no match against the endless wave of infection forms. With the twelve that were killed, a wave numbering hundreds moved down the pathway and attacked the figures. Eve watched in horror and looked away as the infection forms ate away at the figures, easily ripping through their bodysuits. One of the figures tried to fight back but It's attempt was unsuccessful and it fell to the floor as more infection forms spread over it.

"**The **_**Inferi Redivivus **_**were overwhelming our empire." **the voice said. **"Realising that defeat was inevitable, our highest leaders made a decision that would end the war. It was to destroy everything. You see, the Flood fed on intelligent life so, like all armies, they needed to feed in order to survive. If the Forerunners destroyed the Flood's food supply then they would cease to exist."**

The image changed from the war torn city to space again, only this time they were above the Milky Way galaxy again. However, Eve noticed they were further away than the first time. Why was that?Then, a large metallic object appeared not far in front of them. Eve stared at the object. It had a large metallic circle centre with petal-like fins sticking out of the circle. Each one was hundreds, if not thousands of miles long. In the middle of the circle was a large metallic ball that must have been… At least half the size of Earth, maybe a little more.

"What is that?" Eve asked Wally.

"That is our destination." he replied. "That is the Ark,"

Eve went wide-eyed.

"T-that's… The Ark?" she asked, stammering and pointing at the object.

"Yes," Wally replied. "It is what created the Halo installations,"

Eve was… shocked beyond words. She stared back at the Ark. She had always wondered what had created the Halo rings, but she never thought she would see it in real life. This was what had created the weapons designed to destroy all life in the galaxy. Even though it was a bad thing, it was… Just amazing to be seeing the Ark at the same time.

Then, a large circular object rose up from the circle in the middle of the Ark. It was a ring. Fully metallic. Quickly afterwards, another rose up, followed by another, and another , and another. Soon, there were seven of these rings hovering in a line above the Ark. Eve did not recognize them at first but at a second glance, she realised they were the Halo rings. The only difference was that they were fully metallic, both on the outside and the inside. It was amazing to see the inner machine of these powerful devices from exactly when they had been created.

Suddenly, the inner circle of the Ark lit up a light blue colour. A second later, a blue laser shot out from the metallic ball and went through each of the seven rings to the end of the line. When it passed the last ring, the laser suddenly grew into a circle with a dark centre underneath light blue edges. It was a portal. Then, as if they were alive themselves, the rings began to move towards the portal. When one of them reached the portal, it lit up a light blue colour before disappearing. The rest quickly followed.

"**However, like all big decisions, there was opposition to this," **the voice said. **"Other Forerunner leaders quarrelled among themselves for whether the rings should be activated or not. One adversary who opposed the Halo rings was Didact. He opposed the rings because it would break the belief the Forerunners had in the Mantle, the belief that we were to preserve all life in this galaxy."**

The image quickly changed to a view of another planet. One Eve recognized instantly. It was Earth. It was different though because it had no orbital defence platforms or UNSC ships hovering above it. There was no sign of life on the Moon either. All of this must have happened a long time ago in the past, probably before Humanity had even started colonizing in the first place.

"**But we could not quarrel amongst ourselves,"** the voice continued. **"The Flood were continuing to grow and now all other sentient beings in the galaxy, the races we had sworn to protect, were under threat. To save them, we sent ships around the galaxy to recover these races and bring them to the shield world on the Ark. Two of our units, whilst scouting this area for any sentient beings, came across the planet Earth."**

The image then changed again. This time, it was the surface of a desert wasteland with large rock piles and mountains towering hundreds of feet high. Far below was a large savannah. Eve and Wally appeared on the side of a small rock pile, giving them a clear view of the savannah.

Suddenly, a grunt caught their attention. Eve looked over her shoulder to see a man walking towards them. However, he had a large beard growing over his chin. Long brown hair cascaded down his back. He was heavily built and had a small torn pair of rag, that was like a pair of shorts, over the top of his legs. The man was holding a long stick that was almost as tall as he was. The man walked forward over the rocks. He stopped a few metres away from Eve and Wally. They stared at him. Wally, however, was very surprised.

"Are these… Real Humans?" he asked Eve, pointing at the man.

She answered with a nod.

"We must be over a hundred thousand years in the past," she said. "There's no way any Human in the present would look like that,"

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve and Wally looked back out over the savannah to see the ground itself moving into the surrounding hills and mountains. Over seventy miles altogether must have been moving. When the ground had moved, revealing a large hole, a large metallic surface began to rise up from the hole. It stopped when it reached the surface. In the middle of the metallic surface was a large Forerunner dreadnought. Like Truth's, it was a pyramid/triangle shape with three huge legs going down to the ground and a tall spire sticking out of the top of the craft. It shined It's bright chrome colour as the Sun bared down upon it.

Suddenly, the image changed very quickly. Eve and Wally found themselves at the bottom of the craft in between the three enormous legs that descended from the craft to the metallic surface. A figure, dressed in purple/dark blue clothing with a long cloak cascading down to just above the figure's feet and wearing a helmet that a short spire sticking out of the front of the helmet's top with a sharp point coming down from the bottom of the spire to just above two small slits, that were just above another nose-like point that went over what looked like a mouth, which below that was a point a few inches long, was standing nearby. The figure also had some kind of armour along It's arms and had sharp points covering It's fingers.

Then, a blue haze descended down from the centre of the craft's bottom to the metallic surface a few metres from the figure. A second later, another figure hovered down. This one was wearing almost exactly what the other figure had, only it had no cloak and there was no point on the bottom of the helmet or a spire on the helmet's front's top.

"**Librarian," **the figure, who had a male voice, without a cloak said. **"We must leave. Portal 34 is ready for transporting,"**

_"We cannot leave the Homo Sapiens here to their fate," _the other figure, who had a female voice, replied.

"**We do not have much time to save another race, Librarian!" **the male figure said. **"We must leave now!"**

"_I will not leave these beings to their fate!" _the female figure said sternly, turning to face the male figure. _"I see a unique potential for them. Maybe they could keep the activation power safe within them."_

The male figure stared at the female figure for a second before he sighed and nodded.

"_Leave the Portal here," _the female figure ordered. _"Send out Drones to gather some of the species and bring them here. We will take them to the Ark,"_

The male figure nodded and stepped back into the light. A second later, he was gone. The female figure turned and stared at the mountain where Wally and Eve had been just moments ago. It was as if the female figures' eyes were meeting with that of the man they had seen on the mountain side. After a moment or two, the female figure turned and stepped into the light. Like the male figure, she was gone within a second.

"**The Librarian had Portal 34 left in this sector of Earth to transport the Humans to the safety of the Ark," **the voice said. **"Before transporting the Humans to the safety of the ship began, we knew that they were a race willing to defend their home from any enemy. This willingness to fight prompted some of our high leaders to use some of these beings as monitors. They would safeguard the rings, command the sentinels and keep any captured Flood imprisoned within the ring."**

The scene changed to night time. Thousands of stars filled the sky, making it look like the most beautiful thing man would ever seen. Eve and Wally were standing on the grassland. Nearby was a small village, made up of a few mud huts. A small campfire was placed in the middle of the village. Wally and Eve could see a few figures moving about in the darkness around the village.

Suddenly, a bright light shone across the ground. Even though it was coming from above, Wally and Eve were blinded by it. Then, a loud droning sound filled the air and the light dimmed slightly. Being able to see now, Eve looked up and saw a large pyramid shaped object with a tall chrome coloured spire sticking out of the top and three chrome coloured legs sticking out of the bottom sides of the pyramid craft.

The craft hovered down towards the ground. When it touched down, as if someone had flicked a light switch, the light that was on the bottom of the craft turned off. A large rectangular door on the side opened up, which was visible as a light from inside the craft shone through to the outside world. Wally and Eve watched as a group of figures in dark blue/purple armour came out of the craft and moved over towards the village with terrific speed.

"No," Eve heard Wally say. She turned to face him, which he saw through the darkness. "I remember this night," he told her. "This was the night…" he swallowed hard. "…They abducted me,"

Eve went wide-eyed and looked back over the village. Just as she did, a loud scream filled the air. The two looked over at the village to see two of the figures from the ship dragging someone out from one of the mud huts towards the ship. One of the other figures that was in the village tried to intervene, but one of the figures from the ship held up a hand to the figure. The figure let out a panicked cry and retreated back into a nearby mud hut. The two figures from the ship dragged the figure they had hold of into the ship. As they passed through the light emanating from inside the ship, Wally and Eve saw that the figure they had hold of was a Human.

"Was that you?" Eve asked Wally.

Another scream filled the air.

"No," Wally answered.

The rest of the figures emerged from another of the huts carrying another Human that was smaller than the first. The group quickly retreated back into the ship. The door closed and the ship lifted into the air before flying off into the night, disappearing among the thousands of stars scattered across the sky.

"**These monitors were given what they needed to safeguard the rings." **the voice explained. **"Altogether, there were nine that were chosen to protect the rings and prevent the **_**Inferi**_** from escaping. As far as records show now, eight remain,"**

The image changed from the night view of the village to an enormous control room in a large structure. The walls were covered with Flood biomass. Much of the biomass had large tentacles sticking out of it. Wally and Eve stared at this in horror. They were on a Flood controlled world. At least they could not be seen, otherwise they would be dead.

BOOM! An explosion erupted behind them. They shot round to see a group of five figures charge into the room. Four of them were wearing cream bodysuits and helmets much like the ones Eve and Wally saw being worn by other figures earlier on. The fifth was a man wearing a dark blue bodysuit with Forerunner markings on it. The figure had a large bulge on his left arm near his hand.

"Quickly, we must kill the Gravemind," he shouted to the other four figures.

The group charged forward. Many Flood creatures descended from the ceiling or from the Flood biomass growth and went to attack them. However, the man in the bodysuit raised his arm with the bulge. A large hole opened up on the front. A thin red laser shot out of the hole and cut through the Flood forms as if they were paper. The remains fell to the floor.

"I… I do not believe it!" Wally gasped as the group ran past them.

"What is it?" Eve asked, turning her head towards him.

"It… It is Mendicant Bias," Wally replied. Suddenly, his shocked look turned to one of sadness as if he had heard some tragic news. "This is when he died."

Eve looked back at the group, who were now in the middle of the room. Mendicant was a tall man, over six foot, with shoulder length brown hair and a heavily built body. He looked confident, ready to destroy the creatures who threatened him and his race as well as his creators.

Suddenly, a large shape descended from the ceiling towards the group. Eve and Wally looked and saw it as well. As it came closer to the group, they saw it was a large mutated growth with large tentacles sticking out of it. At the top of the growth was a huge mouth with two large shovel shaped growths sticking out of the sides of the mouth, one on each side. Inside the mouth were huge stone-like teeth. Sharper teeth were sticking out of the ends of the shovel shaped growths. The entire thing was horribly mutilated. Eve and Wally's eyes went wide with terror. It was the Gravemind.

"Stand back!" Mendicant said to the other four figures standing near him. They did so. "I will deal with this creature!"

The Gravemind moved closer to Mendicant so It's mouth was just metres from him. If he wanted to, he could swallow him completely. Mendicant was only a few inches tall compared to Gravemind. He could even crush him with the bottom of his mouth if he wanted to. Mendicant raised his arm with the bulge at Gravemind.

"Your army will pay for destroying us," he said.

"**Even if you destroy me, you will only lead yourself to your own demise," **Gravemind replied.

Mendicant lowered his arm slightly. He was just about to fire but: what was the Gravemind talking about?

"What are you talking about?" he asked the creature.

"**What your creators plan to do with you after they have activated the rings," **Gravemind told Mendicant. **"They want your kind to live out the soulless and never ending task of safeguarding what can destroy all in this galaxy." **

"Mendicant, do not listen to him!" one of the figures shouted. "Kill him, quickly!"

**"Take no notice of them," **Gravemind said. **"If you come over to my side, you will no longer have to aid the ones who look to be your allies but are your **_**real**_** enemies!"**

"Mendicant!" another of the figures shouted, stepping towards him. "Kill him! That is an order!"

Mendicant, however, had gone silent. He was still facing Gravemind as if he were frozen like a statue.

Then, he slowly turned and looked up at the group of figures. One of eyes, which was visible as the other was covered by his hair, turned red. The figure that ordered Mendicant to kill Gravemind stepped back a pace. Mendicant looked up at the figure.

"No," he said.

Before any of the figures could react, Mendicant raised his arm and fired a laser, that split into four in not even a millisecond after it left the silo, at the group of figures. The figures were hit and fell to the floor. They did not rise afterwards.

"**You have chosen the right path," **Gravemind said, moving a small tentacle onto Mendicant's shoulder. **"You can now wipe out the rest of these fools and you shall be unstoppable,"**

Eve watched all this in disbelief. A member of the own Human race had betrayed them! Wait a moment, why did his eye turn red. Could it be…? Maybe it was-

A loud sniff next to her caught her attention. Eve looked and saw it was Wally. A tear rolled his face. Eve placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked him softly.

"That was it," he replied. He took a deep breath. "He was gone,"

Eve looked back at Mendicant. As she did, the image began to change.

"B-But it thought he…" she began but quickly lost what she wanted to say in her mouth. "He… Well, died,"

"He did," Wally replied. "When he turned over to the Flood, the Mendicant I knew… W-Was gone,"

Eve felt so sorry for him. Eve though she had lost all her friends, Wally had had to suffer the pain of losing his best, and probably only, friend and having to live with it for the past 100,00 years was… well, probably the worst thing that could happen to two friends.

"**But we failed to realise that these new species could easily turn against each other," **the voice said. **"Power was the one thing these new monitors wanted, so we had to risk using a new serum in order to control them."**

The image quickly changed to a large square shaped room with some kind of circular platform on the floor in the middle of the room. The walls and the floor were a light blue colour and looked to be glowing, giving the room It's light. A small door was on the wall behind Wally and Eve as they appeared in the room. At the other end of the room was a large control panel. Three figures dressed in dark blue/purple bodysuits with cloaks and large circular helmets with three horns sticking out of the helmet, two on the sides and one on the top, with two small bead-like objects on the front, acting like eyes, were standing in front of the control panel. Two of the figures were standing in front of the third who had his back to the control panel. Hovering behind them were two diamond shaped craft with blue lights on the front of the crafts next to small laser silos. Sentinels.

"_Quickly, we must activate the Array!" _the figure, standing to the middle figure's left, said.

The figure in the middle shook his head.

"**No!" **he said. **"Where is the Librarian?" **he asked.

"_**Didact! We do not have any time!" **_the figure, standing to the middle figure's right, replied in a rising voice. _**"The rescue party has not returned! The fleet is falling and the **_**Inferi**_** are on our doorstep!"**_

"**No!" **Didact said, silencing the figure. **"I will not activatee the Array until the Librarian is here-"**

"DIDACT!"

Didact shot round to see the Librarian standing on the top of the control panel. Her uniform was cut in several places and there were scorch marks across the helmet. Blood was over her hand and half-way up her arm.

"**Librarian!" **Didact exclaimed. _**"Where are you? Why are you not here?" **_he asked the Librarian.

"The search party was destroyed!" she replied. "He came and killed all of them! I am trapped on Earth. Activate the Array!"

**"I am not leaving you on Earth!" **Didact protested. **"We need you!"**

"I am sorry, Didact," the Librarian replied. "You will have to continue without me. It has been a honour working with you." the Librarian sniffed as if she were trying not to cry. "Activate the Arra-"

Suddenly, the Librarian stopped dead. She gasped and looked ahead towards the other end of the room as if she had seen Wally and Eve.

"Didact!" she whispered. "H… He's there! He's in the struct-"

KZK! The Librarian, suddenly, went fuzzy and disappeared. Didact gasped and tried typing in codes, sequences, anything to bring back contact with the Librarian.

**"Please!" **he shouted angrily. **"Please activate-"**

BOOM! The wall at the other end of the room exploded, throwing dust and rubble everywhere. Everyone in the room shot round to see a figure fly through the air and land on the floor in front of them. It was a figure dressed in a cream bodysuit with a strange eagle-like helmet. The figure lay still, not another sound came from it.

Then, something else became visible in the dust cloud. Eve and Wally saw it first and looked up. Didact, the figures and the sentinels, as if caused by Wally and Eve, looked up as well. They watched the figure move It's arm as if it were waving it. The cloud of dust immediately faded. Didact gasped and almost fell over.

It was Mendicant.

His red eyes focused on the group ahead of him. An evil smile spread across his face.

"_Sentinels! Kill him!" _one of the figures ordered.

The two sentinels charged towards Mendicant. However, he did not run or panic; he just stood there, rooted to the spot and rolled his eyes as though he were disappointed by this move. When they were a few metres from him, they stopped and fired a laser at Mendicant. However, he just raised his left arm and a shield appeared in front of him. The lasers hit the shield and disappeared.

"How pathetic," he said as. "I expected better of you, Didact!"

Before anyone could even blink, Mendicant fired two lasers out of his bulge. They hit the sentinels and they fell to the floor burning piles of metal. Didact gasped and stepped back a pace but was quickly stopped by the control panel. Mendicant laughed as he lowered his arm and walked towards the three figures.

"_You shall not stop us, Mendicant!" _one of the figures shouted as he and the other pulled out large objects shaped almost like a capitol B's, only the back of the weapons looked like they had a C sticking out of them. _"Didact ru-AAAAAHHH!"_

Another two lasers struck the figures in the chests. One of them was killed instantly. The other fell to the floor but managed to lift himself up a few inches from the floor.

"_**D… Did-act," **_he gasped. _**"T… Ta…my… Wea-"**_

Another laser struck the figure in the chest. He let out a weak gasp before falling onto the floor, dead. Didact gasped. His eyes grew wide with terror as Mendicant walked towards him. Didact went to grab one of the weapons but Mendicant fired another laser at him. It hit him in the hand. Didact screamed out in pain and fell to the floor. Blood poured from the wound. He clapsed his other hand over the wound to stop the flow of blood but it was useless.

Eve and Wally watched this with their own eyes. They had never seen so much evil in one man before. In just the space of a few minutes, they had seen someone who was once against the Flood now with them. What was worse was that this man was once a Human. It was a reminder of how power and hate went to someone's head. When someone had a lot of power, the one thing want is more power, and with every drop of power came a wave of hate. Right now, this wave of hate was sweeping from Mendicant over Didact.

Mendicant laughed as he stopped just two feet from Didact.

"The Array has failed," he said. "You may as well admit defeat, Didact." his voice rose and he began to speak triumphantly like a commander who had won a great battle. "The Forerunners are finished. The Librarian is finished. You are finished-AAAH!"

Suddenly, Mendicant flew backwards and landed painfully on his back. Eve and Wally and Didact gasped. What the hell had just happened?

Then, another figure landed in front of the control panel. Mendicant saw him and growled. Wally, Eve and Didact gasped. The figure was about six foot tall with shoulder length brown hair. He was also wearing a dark blue bodysuit with Forerunner markings on it and he had a bulge on his left arm near his hand.

Eve instantly recognized the figure.

I-It w-wa-was…Wally.

"Offensive Bias!" Mendicant growled. "You are too late! The Array has failed!"

"Not yet," the man replied. "Mendicant, stop! Can you not se what the Gravemind has done to you?"

"He has made me see what out Forerunner creators are really like!" Mendicant growled as he stood up from the floor. "You are one who needs to stop! You need to stop serving these liars!"

Offensive Bias (Wally) shook his head.

"I will not betray the Forerunners," he said calmly. "You need to stop this, Mendicant. Come back to the Forerunners."

Mendicant laughed at these words.

"No, Offensive." he said. "You are a fool! And for staying with the Forerunners, you are now my enemy! You and Didact will die along with the Array,"

Mendicant raised his left arm and fired another laser at Offensive. However, his enemy rose his left arm and a shield lit up in front of him. The laser hit his shield and faded.

"Didact!" Offensive shouted as he looked over his shoulder. "Activate the Array! Hurry!"

Didact nodded and pulled himself up.

"NO!" Mendicant yelled.

He went to charge towards Didact, but Offensive fired a laser at him. Luckily, Mendicant's quick reactions kicked in. He fired a laser of his own at Offensive. The two lasers collided and became a growing ball being fuelled by the endless stream of lasers. The ball was so bright that it easily pushed aside the light blue light coming from the floors and walls and was still becoming brighter with every second. Wally and Eve had to look away. Even Mendicant and Offensive were blinded by the lasers but both were transferring more power into their lasers in an effort to break the others. Slowly, the ball began to grow out of control. It was getting too bright, and it was overloading. If the two kep this up, it would explode and most probably end up incinerating the entire room, but neither were going to stop, especially Mendicant. He was going to continue firing until he was either killed or he had killed Offensive. This battle was going to end here and he was going to damn well make sure he was the winner.

Didact, even with his badly injured hand, began typing in a sequence at a fast speed. Another hologram appeared above the control panel. It showed a picture of the rings. The words _Halo Array activation series initiatis _(Halo Array activation sequence initiating) appeared across the screen. This did not go unnoticed by Mendicant.

"NOOOO!" he screamed.

Suddenly, anger, fury and hatred were all being fired at once towards Offensive. Didact had activated the Array. No! He could still stop him! He WAS going to stop him! The Forerunners were not going to win!Offensive quickly realised that his laser was weakening. Mendicant's was too strong. It was so powerful that it was pushing him backwards as if an invisible hand was pulling him towards the control panel. He tried to stay focused but Mendicant's laser was draining every last drop of strength from him.

Finally, it became too much for him. Offensive lost his strength for one second, but in a situation like this, one second can be fatal. Mendicant's laser blew through Offensive's and hit him in the chest. Offensive flew through the air and landed with a loud thud against the control panel. He looked up at Didact.

"I… I am sorry… Didact," he whispered.

He took one last breath before his eyes closed and he lay still.

"**OFFENSIVE! NOOOO!" **Didact yelled.

Before he could even move, Mendicant, who had ran over to him in the blink of an eye, grabbed him by the throat and held him high above the ground.

"You! Are! Dead! Meat!" he snarled at him.

Didact gasped for breath. Even though it was now obvious his life was over, he was not going to fail in telling Mendicant he was too late.

"You…have…failed…Mendicant," he gasped.

Suddenly, the room began to shake violently. Mendicant gasped and panicky looked around to see who, or what, was causing this. Even Wally and Eve had to grab hold of the platform to stop them from falling over.

"What's going on?" Eve asked Wally.

"The Rings have fired." he replied. "One of them must be nearby. You do not need to worry. We will not be harmed."

"Then…" Eve began but stopped and looked back over at Mendicant, who was still holding the struggling Didact above the ground. "How did you live?"

Before Wally could answer, a loud crumbling sound filled the room. Everyone, apart from Offensive, looked up and saw the ceiling of the room collapse in large chunks. Most of the ceiling fell to the floor, revealing a black sky with hundreds of tiny white lights. Space. Everyone looked through the new hole in the building.

Then, a large white ball came into view. Very quickly, it grew wide and wider, even though it was very far away. Mendican's eyes went wide with terror. That was the firing light of the Array. He watched as entire stars were swallowed up as if the ball was a monster eating everything in sight.

Mendicant's look of terror turned back to anger. He shot his head back to face Didact.

"IF I DIE, YOU DIE WITH ME!" he yelled in Didact's face.

Then, Mendicant squeezed tightly on Didact's neck. Didact loudly gasped for breath before his head cocked to one side and he went quiet and did not move, nor did he utter one more sound. Mendicant threw his body to the ground.

Suddenly, the room grew brighter. Mendicant shot round to see the white ball now only a few miles away and, judging by It's speed, he had only about ten to, maybe, twenty seconds before it hit. He went to activate his anti-gravity boots. Maybe he could outfly the Array.

WHAM! A large piece of the ceiling struck him on the head. Mendicant fell to the floor. He groaned and he turned over onto his back. His vision went blurry. He could not get up for he did not have the strength. The ball was coming closer. It looked like it was over for him. His service to the Forerunners and the Flood would be swept away in an instant.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him and pulled him towards the control panel. Mendicant, through his blurry vision, looked and saw it was Offensive.

"Y-You," he whispered. "I-I thought you were…dead,"

Offensive only looked down at him. He had a cut underneath his neck, probably where the laser had struck. He pulled Mendicant over to the control panel and activated a shield on his bulge, which spread out over the two like a dome.

"What are you doing?" he said, aghast at what Offensive was doing.

"Saving your life, old friend," Offensive replied softly, smiling down at Mendicant.

Mendicant looked up and saw the ball coming closer and closer. Within a few seconds, it cut through the ceiling and engulfed them in white light.

Eve and Wally had watched all this in complete amazement. They had just seen the fate of the Forerunners and the activation of the Halo rings. Even though it was bad, it was amazing at the same time.

"**What happened to Offensive and Mendicant after the activation, no one can tell." **the voice said. **"The only records of Mendicant were destroyed. All they knew of Offensive was that his records fighting Mendicant were also destroyed and his name was changed and he was sent to safeguard one of the rings. What happened to Mendicant, no one can tell. Whether he died in the blast of the Array or had his bodysuit and powers removed is unknown."**

The image changed to a view of space. A large planet with a metallic landmasses and water surrounding them was to the far right of the two. Were they at the first planet again? The very place where the war between the Forerunners and the Flood began?

"**With the threat sterilized, our keyships began to escort the life forms we had saved back to their homeworlds," **the voice said. **"From there, the galaxy would be repopulated."**

Large ships suddenly flew up from the surface of the planet. Eve and Wally looked and saw they were Forerunner dreadnoughts. At least thirty, maybe forty, of them. Then, large wormholes opened in front of the craft when they were a few thousand miles above the planet. The ships flew into them and disappeared.

The image then changed from a view of the planet to a large clearing in the jungle. All of the plants around Wally and Eve were completely alien to them. Even the Sun was a bright red colour. In the distance over some of the trees, which were very small, Eve could see the tops of stone buildings.

Suddenly, a large silver metallic block lowered from the sky. When it was about fifty feet from the ground, the bottom corners of the block opened up and four large metallic legs lowered from inside the block. They touched down on the ground and slowed the descent to a halt. The block continued to lower to the ground until the legs had been fully consumed.

Then, ten doors across the front of the block opened up. Eve and Wally watched, but saw nothing come out of them. Who, or what, was in there?

Then, a large figure walked out of the block into the light. Eve gasped. It was a tall creature with lerge elephant-like feet, tall muscular bodies that were a dark colour and hands with two tall fingers and two smaller ones. A large piece of white cloth was wrapped around the waist of the creature. The face had four mandibles that made up the mouth. It was a Sangheili, or, as she referred to them, an Elite.

Then, more figures came out of the doorways into the light. After the first line, another group followed. Eve and Wally watched as the Elites scanned their surroundings as if they had just arrived on this world. Then, they began walking in the direction of the stone buildings.

The image then changed from a jungle to a barren wasteland with strange dark brown coloured rocks and trees with green trunks but no leaves. Another large metallic block was on the ground nearby. More doorways opened along the front, only this time they were smaller and slightly wider then the last. Small figures lumbered out from inside the block. Eve went wide-eyed. They were Grunts. However, they did not have any armour on, or any methane gas masks or even the large triangle piece of armour that would usually stick out of thir backs. Their skin really was like an elephant's and was a dark grey colour. The Grunts squeaked, probably speaking in their own language, and began to lumber away from the block. Another two groups followed them out.

The image then changed again to a desert landscape with large rock mountains covering most of the landsape. Between them was savannah. In the ground not too far away frm the mountain Eve and Wally were standing on was a large circular metallic surface. It was the portal. They were back on Earth.

Then, another block landed nearby. The two watched as it touched down. The door along the front opened and a group of Human men walked out. Following behind them was a group of Human women with pieces of cloth wrapped around their waists and chests. The group walked away from the block and disappeared behind the side of the mountain.

"**With the galaxy repopulated, those of the Flood that remained were kept on the Halo rings, in installations known as the Library," **the voice said. **"There, the monitors would safeguard the rings, alongside the sentinels, and the many keys that would be need to activate the ring should the threat escape again. But we had no choice but to leave this galaxy. Find a new home for our race to rebuild. And from there, life continued to go on,"**

Suddenly, a red light beeped loudly on the side of Wally's bulge.

"Our time here is up," he said to Eve.

The image around them then changed from the ancient desert and savannah landscape of Earth to the dark blue corridor they appeared in earlier on. The haze shone brightly as it reatreated back to the wall before it faded and disappeared. The rest of the hazes quickly followed. The room then changed from the dark blue corridor to a large room with bunk beds lined up against the walls. A door was on the wall to their left. Two single beds were against the wall behind Eve. They were back in the _Forward Unto Dawn's_ barracks. They were now standing in the middle of the room.

A knock came at the door. A second later, it opened to reveal John standing there.

"Oh Eve, Wally," he said in a relieved tone. "I've been looking for you. C'mon, we're there,"

John walked back down the corridor towards the hanger. Eve and Wally looked at each other grimly.

They knew this was it. The Battle of the Ark was about to begin.


	10. The Ark

**Shadow of Intent Bridge**

Vadumee, who was still sitting in his chair, looked out through the window ceiling. With every second, they came closer to their target: The Ark. Vadumee placed the tips of his fingers against each other. Even though he had attacked many planets before, he was nervous. They were at the very place where the Halo rings themselves were created. What he was also nervous about was that: what if Truth and his forces had prepared for their arrival? For all he knew, they could have AA turrets lined up all over the Ark's surface. If they did, then they were going to slaughtered. The one thing he needed at the moment was the element of surprise.

"Shipmaster!" one of the minor Elites working on a nearby control panel shouted. "We have picked up Brute ships! They are in staggered line, Shipmaster! They outnumber us three to one!"

Vadumee looked out through the window ceiling. Above the Ark, probably about three to four hundred miles away, and heading straight for them was another Covenant fleet. Truth's fleet. All of the assault carriers were there, and so were the CCS battle cruisers. Wait a minute, where was Truth's ship? Ah! That did not matter. What mattered right now was that the Elites gave the Brute's the biggest pounding of their lives, one they would surely never forget.

"We are even in this fight," Vadumee muttered under his breath. "All cruisers, fire at will!" he ordered, pounding a fist onto the side of his chair. "Burn their mongrel hives!"

_**Forward Unto Dawn's**_** loading bay**

The marines were busy rushing around trying to get to pelicans or into vehicles, ready to launch a ground assault on Truth's forces on the Ark. Eve was sitting in one of the pelican's resting area. For now, however, she would be going alone with the marines. Wally had to stay on the ship and try and find any useful Intel from the Ark, hopefully he could find something on whatever Truth was after.

_"Truth's ship isn't taking part in the attack!"_ came Mary's voice from Eve's ear radio. _"He must have gone to ground," _

"Roger that, Ma'am," came John's voice from the pelican's cog pit. "We're on him! Pilot, kick the door,"

"Roger, sergeant," came another person's voice from the cog pit.

The pelican's resting area doors closed. Eve and the three other marines felt the craft move forward. After about a minute, it stopped. Then, a loud unlocking sound, which everyone in the pelican could hear even though the doors were closed, filled the air. The pelican jolted as the crew felt it descend from the ship.

The pelican had descended from the Forward Unto Dawn's loading bay, along with about four others, and was now flying down at full speed towards the surface of the Ark. All around them, the Brute and Elite ships were firing on each other. Explosions erupted everywhere. Seraph fighters, both Elite and Brute, pursued each other, determined to shoot their opponent down.

As the pelicans flew past a Brute CCS battle cruiser, a Brute seraph fighter spotted them and fired a barrage of blasts from It's cannons at them. One of the blasts struck the back of one of the pelicans. The pelican spun round erratically towards the Ark.

_"Thrusters are gone! I can't control it!"_ came the pilot's voice.

BOOM! The pelican exploded, killing everyone on board. The remains drifted off into space. The Brute seraph fighter chased after the remaining pelicans. One down four to go. This was going to be an easy kill.

Suddenly, another barrage of blasts flew through space, only this time they hit the side of the Brute seraph fighter. Smoke began to bellow out from the back of the craft. The fighter immediately banked left and flew off. Chasing after it were two Elite seraph fighters.

"We good, Hocus?" John asked from the cog pit.

_"She's a little cooked, Sarge…" _came the pilot's reply. _"But she'll hold,"_

"Alright, get ready, marines," John shouted from the cog pit. "We're almost at the LZ,"

Eve reached under her seat and took out an SRS99D-S2 sniper rifle and a clip of ammo. She loaded it into the weapon and looked up at the door. At any moment, she was expecting it to open to reveal an alien landscape with Covenant forces everywhere.

A few minutes passed. The door still remained closed. How far were they from the Ark's surface? Then again, it depended where they were heading to on the Ark. It could be one of the far away fins, or even the Earth-like ball hovering in the centre of the Ark's circle.

All of a sudden, the doors shot open. Sunlight quickly filled the resting area, blinding everyone who was within a few seats from the craft's exit. Eve moved her arm over her eyes to shield them from the sunlight. She could see an enormous desert spread out in front of her. Large mountains were in the far away distance. Eve looked up and saw the artificial Sun shining down on the Ark. Even though it was daytime, the many stars and planets were still visible.

The pelican began to descend towards a large plateau on the edge of a mountain that must have been well over a thousand feet high because the sands of the desert looked to be a mile down from the plateau.

"Huh, that's some view," one of the marines said as he gazed out of the pelican at the desert.

"Enjoy while you can, marines," came John's voice from the pelican. "Eve, your leading the attack. Your first objective is to stop the Covenant from setting up any AA defences. After that, we need to secure a landing zone for the Commander's frigate. We need all the Intel we can get…on wherever the hell we are,"

A few moments later, the pelican came to a halt about ten feet above the plateau. Eve and the marines jumped down from the craft onto the ground. A pathway led through a small rock archway and turned left. Wherever to was unknown.

_"Good luck,"_ John said as the pelican hovered into the air and flew back into the sky.

"Alright, let's go," Eve said to the marines.

She ran ahead of the squad under the archway; the marines followed. The squad ran past another small plateau. Another marine, who had gotten of another pelican, which had now flown back up into the sky after John's, joined them. The squad ran left up another path that led through a small cave with rocks along the ground next to the walls. The exit, that was about twenty feet ahead of them, led to an open area. The squad down the cave towards the open area.

When the squad emerged from the cave, Eve held up a hand to stop them.

"Get down!" she hissed.

The squad obeyed and kneeled down. Eve crouched and crept forward towards a small rock at the bottom of a path that went up and ran along the side of part of the mountain. When she reached it, she peeked her head out from behind to see a large, circular, metallic ring that was a dark silver colour and had pillars sticking up out of the sides. Each one was spaced about ten feet from each other. Part of the circle, directly opposite where Eve was hiding, was missing. A pathway ran out through the gap and into another large cave with boulders lined up along the walls. In the centre of the ring was more sand with several boulders scattered about. However, what she had really stopped the squad for was because of the Covenant presence.

Sleeping near one of the boulder was a minor Grunt. A few feet away was another sleeping Grunt, only it was a major. A large figure was walking in and out between the boulders. It was a Brute with teal green armour on. Eve could see the Brute shot he was wielding. Is that all that was here? No. Near the right end of the circle was a large cross shaped platform on the ground. A blue haze was hovering up into the air, from the middle of the cross shaped platform, to a large circular platform with pillars sticking up out of the sides. A tall bird-like creature with a silver vest over It's torso was walking around on the platform. A Jackal. Eve could just about see the top of the beam rifle it was holding. Another Jackal, with It's activated shield by It's side, walked past the Brute and went behind another boulder.

Eve turned her head back towards the marines and pointed up at the path. The marines, keeping low, followed Eve up the path. Most of the boulders were lined up along the sides of the path facing the ring. They had to be quick when moving between them so the Covenant soldiers did not spot them.

The squad came to a halt at the top of the path as it came to a dead end next to the side of the mountain. Eve hid behind a small boulder, giving her a clear view of the open area. The marines hid behind the boulders next to her. They could see another two Grunts sleeping against the outside of the ring. they could also see a purple pillar, which had been placed directly behind a large boulder, in the middle of the area inside the ring with a hologram of Truth above it. So far, the Covenant were unaware of their presence. That was good. They still had the element of surprise in their favour.

"You take the first shot, Eve," one of the marines whispered to Eve.

She nodded and, still keeping crouched and stepping out from behind her boulder slightly, aimed her sniper rifle at the Covenant squad. She moved it between the soldiers she could hit. The Brute was walking in the direction she was facing. She could hit him first. The Jackal on the platform, however, was an even bigger threat, but was also facing away from her as it was walking around the platform. Like all snipers, she had to pick the right target, but both were as dangerous as each other.

Eve finally made up her mind. She looked down the scope and aimed at her target. She rested her finger on the trigger and pulled down.

A loud scream filled the air as the major Grunt was hit in the head. Light blue blood was thrown across the ground and the boulder. The creature fell sideways onto the ground and turned on It's stomach and lay still. The Brute roared something and frantically began to look round. The rest of the Grunts, who had been woken up by the sound of the gunshot, screamed and ran around the area, waving their arms about in the air in terror.

"Where did that noise come from?" the Brute shouted.

The Jackal on the platform replied by screeching loudly and pointing over to the pathway. The Brute whipped round and fired a grenade from his Brute shot up at the pathway. Eve dived sideways away from the rock. A loud bang filled the air as the grenade hit the side of the rock. As Eve stood up she, inadvertently, revealed herself to the Covenant.

"The demon is here!" the Brute roared, pointing up at her.

A barrage of blasts flew at Eve. She ducked down, narrowly missing a blast as it flew over her head. The marines responded by firing back at the Covenant squad. One of the Grunts was hit and yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto the ground, dead. The Jackal sniper fired a purple laser up at the pathway. A marine dived behind a nearby boulder, narrowly missing having his foot blown off as the laser flew over it and hit the side of the mountain.

Eve moved forward to the boulder she had hidden behind when they arrived in the open area. She peeked her head out from behind it to see the Brute was now firing at the marines. In front of him were three Grunts. The Brute cursed loudly as a burst of ammo struck him in the chest armour. Perfect. With his attention focused directly on the marines, she could kill him. Eve raised her sniper rifle and fired. The Brute roared in pain as the bullet broke through the armour and embedded itself in the creature's chest. Eve fired another shot at the Brute. The creature loudly as it fell to the ground, dead.

"They got leader!" one of the Grunts screamed. "Run away!"

The Grunts turned and ran away from the pathway towards the large cave. Big mistake. The marines raised their weapons and fired. The three creatures fell forward onto the ground, dead. The Jackal with the shield screeched and ran out from behind one of the boulders towards the cross shaped platform. The marines fired on the creature's exposed back, killing it. There was just one more Covenant left to kill.

Eve reloaded her sniper rifle and aimed out from behind the rock. The Jackal sniper looked down at It's weapon as it shook it to cool it down from firing too much. It was the perfect time to strike. Eve fired a shot out from her sniper rifle at the creature, hitting it in the head. The Jackal screeched loudly as it fell to the platform floor, dead.

"Alright, It's clear," Eve shouted to the marines.

The rest of the squad ran down the path and followed Eve as she climbed over the side of the ring and ran across the area in the middle of it towards the next cave. However, she quickly came to a halt as the hologram of Truth was talking again.

**"… Even now it is engaged; turn death into war for this new world." the hologram was saying. "Do not relent until the heretic ships are smashed and are driven back to the Human cesspool world."**

Eve breathed heavily through her nose, no doubt she was annoyed. She grabbed the pillar and dragged it over to the right end of the ring. When she reached it, she threw it over the side and it fell down the cliff, which was where the right side of the ring ended. A few loud crashing sounds followed but quickly faded away.

"You really hate Truth, don't you," one of the marines said.

"What gave you that idea," Eve replied sarcastically in a low tone as she turned and ran past the marine towards the cave.

Eve led the squad through the cave, turning right about half-way down it, to the end. When they reached the end, they saw they were in another open area with a metallic ring filled with sand and boulders in It's centre. This time, however, it was up against the side of the mountain where a small path went up from the other side of the open area to a small cave in the mountain's side. However, it was what was in the middle of the ring that drew the squad's attention.

Standing on three large gold legs was a large flat cylindrical metal piece. On top of that was a small bulge. The entire thing was a gold colour Eve recognized it instantly. It was another Covenant AA turret. The squad moved forward and hid behind a few boulders that were outside the ring, just in case there were any Covenant, which they were bound to be, patrolling the area.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up and saw a phantom hover down towards the turret. Below it was a large gold metal object that was shaped like a ODST HEV. After that, the turret would go on top and then it would fully operational. However, the phantom's three canons were still moving about as if they were birds of prey scanning the area for food. Even though they doubted it, the Covenant knew that they could not afford to take risks on the Ark.

"If that thing gets fully operational, It'll tear the Dawn apart!" one of the marines said, aghast.

"We won't be able to destroy it," Eve replied. "So we'll just have to get rid of the Covenant from this area and hope they don't come back,"

"You there!" a deep voice from the other side of the ring shouted. The squad froze, thinking they had been spotted. "Stop sleeping and help us put this turret together!"

The squad breathed a sigh of relief. They had not been spotted, at least not yet. The Covenant would eventually find them, but, hopefully it would be when the turret was still being constructed.

"Wait here," Eve whispered to the squad.

Keeping low, she crept out from behind the rock towards the side of the ring. With every step, she glanced up at the phantom with worried eyes, hoping that it had not spotted her. Thankfully, she was still safe. When Eve reached the side of the ring, she peeked her head out over the top.

The ground was about a ten feet drop from the side of the ring. Among the sand were four large boulders. There had been five but one had been crushed by one of the legs of the turret. At the other end of the ring, which, like the last, had a gap in it, was the path that led up to the cave.

Then, a large figure dressed in gold armour with a gold helmet walked out from behind one of the boulders. A Brute. In his hand was a Brute shot. Two smaller figures were standing nearby. Grunts. There were three so far, but there was bound to be more of them.

One of the Grunts walked away from the other and curled into a ball up against another boulder and began to snore. The brute immediately ran over to the Grunt and kicked it hard. The creature screamed as it woke up and aimed It's weapon around menacingly.

"Stop fooling around and keep on guard!" the Brute shouted at the creature, whacking the Grunt over the head. The creature groaned and walked back over to the other Grunt.

Eve moved back behind the side of the ring. Only three Covenant? Usually there would be more. Maybe the Covenant had decided the Humans would not land here and decided not to put a lot of troops on patrol. Although barely any Covenant at the turret was a good thing, Eve was still suspicious. More Covenant were lurking somewhere, but where?

Suddenly, a loud screech filled the air. Eve jumped and looked up to see a Jackal with It's beam rifle aimed down at her. It had been standing on a flat piece of the saucer that had not been covered by the bulge. Next to the top of the path, it was the perfect sniping position. The Jackal fired a shot. Eve dived out of the way, narrowly missing the laser as it hit the ground where she had just been. The Jackal aimed at her as she was standing up. It placed a finger on the trigger. She was in the perfect place. All the Jackal had to do was pull the trigger and she would be dead.

Suddenly, a barrage of bullets flew at the creature's side. The Jackal let out another screech as it fell to the turret's floor, dead. Eve looked behind her to see the marines standing next to the boulder.

"Thanks guys," she said.

"Fall back!" a deep voice shouted from Eve's ear radio.

As if on cue, the phantom, which had been hovering above the turret, banked right and flew out away from the cliff before it turned left and disappeared behind another part of the mountain about thirty metres away.

"Alright, now let's take care of the rest of them," Eve said to the squad.

The squad ran over to the side of the ring and pulled themselves up on the side. The Brute roared and pointed in their direction. However, before he could raise his weapon, Eve and another marine fired at the Brute. The creature was hit in the chest and head. After a few seconds, he could no longer withstand the barrage and he fell to the ground, dead.

"THEY GOT LEADER!" one of the Grunts screamed. "NOOOO! RUN AWAY!"

The two Grunts turned and ran towards the path that led up to the cave.

"We got 'em on the run!" one of the marines exclaimed. "Let's chase 'em down!"

The marine jumped down from the side of the ring to the ground and ran after the Grunts. Eve and the rest of the squad followed.

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve and the marines that were with her skidded to a halt. They knew what it was.

"Get behind cover!" she shouted to the marines, who dived behind the nearest boulders.

The leading marine, however, did not hear the noise and continued running on.

"Come back!" she shouted to the leading marine.

She ran after the leading marine, who had reached the path and was about to fire up at the Grunts when a hand grabbed the back of his uniform and pulled him away from the path and towards the boulders where the rest of the squad were taking cover.

An electrical explosion erupted behind them. The two looked over their shoulders just in time to see a red blast fade away into thin air. Eve looked up and saw a phantom hovering about twenty feet above them. The three enormous cannons aimed down at them, ready to fire again. Eve almost threw the marine forward behind a boulder ahead of them, where two other marines were hiding, and dived behind another next to it, where the other marines were hiding.

"That was close," Eve said as she sat up from the ground.

With the marine saved, they now had to find a way in driving off, or destroying, the phantom. It was going to be hard but at least they were safe from the phantom's cannons with the protection of the Covenant AA turret. For once, they were glad to have Covenant technology literally over their heads.

"Look out, It's dropping troops!" another marine, hiding behind the other boulder, warned, pointing up at the phantom.

The rest of the squad looked up at the phantom. The marine was right. The circle on the bottom of the craft opened up. An enormous figure hovered down from the craft to the ground. It was twelve feet tall, had a large plasma cannon attached on one hand and a large metal sword on the other and had orange skin underneath the armour that covered most of the body. It was a Hunter. Then, another hovered down next to the other. The phantom then flew off and disappeared behind the mountain.

"We are so dead," one of the marines hiding behind the boulder with Eve muttered under his breath.

Before Eve could reply, a large green light began to charge up in the Hunters' cannons. A second later, two green lasers shot out of the cannons towards the marines. The squad dived away from the boulders as an enormous explosion filled the air. Dust covered the area around the two boulders. The Hunters half-lowered their cannons and, cautiously, approached the boulders. Barely anyone could have survived that, even Eve who had the shield bodysuit to protect her. Even so, the Hunters were keeping their guard up, just in case there were any survivors.

Suddenly, a burst of ammo filled the air. The bullets hit the Hunter's face. Even though the creature was huge and had reinforced skin and armour, it still hurt. The creature roared loudly and staggered backwards as it placed it's metal sword arm over It's face. The other Hunter growled. The Humans had hurt his comrade. Hunters stuck together in pairs like brothers. It was going to make the Humans pay for hurting It's comrade.

The other Hunter charged forward and brought back It's metal sword arm. As it hit the dust cloud, the dust seemed to vanish as if in fear of the creature. Behind the remains of one of the boulders were three marines. The Hunter roared and swung It's metal sword at them. The marines dived to the ground, narrowly avoiding having their heads taken off their shoulders. The Hunter, who had turned left slightly by It's momentum knew that it missed and prepared to strike them with the back of It's sword whilst they were trying to get away. This time, it would hit It's target.

Suddenly, a barrage of ammo flew at the Hunter's exposed orange back. The creature let out an ear piercing roar as it fell onto the ground, dead. The three marines started at the body, breath taken. One of then looked at where the barrage came from. Eve and the two marines with her knelt down and weapons aimed at the Hunter.

"Thanks, Eve," one of the marines said in a relieved tone as he stood up.

Suddenly, another roar filled the air. The squad looked towards other Hunter. Oh no! They had completely forgotten about that one. Worse still, it was alive! The creature looked up at them, revealing a large spot of orange blood on the creature's lower face armour. The Hunter growled. It was angry at being wounded, but when it saw It's dead comrade, the anger and fury spilt over inside it like an overflowing cauldron. The Hunter let out another growl, only it was much louder.

All of a sudden, the creature charged towards the squad, heading straight for Eve and the two marines. It moved so quickly that the three, or even the marines that were hiding behind the other boulder's remains, did not even have time to raise their weapons before the Hunter reached It's enemies. The creature brought back It's metal sword and swung at them. Eve and one of the marines dived to the floor. Another, however, failed to react quickly enough. The metal sword hit him in the chest and threw him with bone crushing force against the side of the ring. He slid down to the ground and gasped as he tried to say something. He raised his shaking hand but it quickly dropped to the ground next to him and his eyes closed and he lay still.

Eve felt a sudden jolt of anger run through her as she looked at the body. That Hunter had just killed a fellow marine! That was another one dead. However, they would all be dead if this Hunter was not killed. She had to find a way to lure it into a tra-

"EVE! WATCH OUT!"

Eve looked back at the Hunter. The creature raised It's enormous metal sword. It swung the weapon at Eve. She dived to the ground again, narrowly missing the weapon as it swung over her head. Eve dived away from the Hunter and, when she had gotten up from the ground, ran from the creature. The Hunter wasted no time in chasing after her.

Eve began to panic when she looked over her shoulder and saw the enormous creature chasing after her. The marines fired on the creature but the boulders covered their range of fire to the creature's exposed orange weak spot. Also it was moving too fast. There was no way they could hit it. Eve would have to deal with this creature on her own.

That was going to be hard. Eve dived forward as she passed a boulder near the bottom of the path, narrowly missing another strike from the Hunter's metal sword. As she got up, a green light stretched across the side of the rock that formed the path. That green light was just like the colour of the…Hunter's cannon! Suddenly, an explosion filled the air, throwing a cloud of dust into the air. The Hunter had fired a laser across the side of the rock, causing a large chunk of it, along with it part of the path, to collapse onto Eve. The Hunter let out a growl and moved towards the rubble. When it reached the pile of rocks, it used It's metal sword to move them. What the…? There was no body! The Hunter had moved all of the rocks so there was no chance of Eve hiding, but where was she?

"Hey stupid!" a female voice shouted.

The Hunter growled in alarm and looked up. Standing on part of the path, that had not collapsed, was Eve.

"You missed!" she said mockingly.

Before the Hunter could react, Eve raised her weapon and fired a shot at the creature. The shot easily broke through the armour and drove deep into the creature's chest. The Hunter let out a groan before it fell sideways onto the ground, dead.

"Nice work, Eve," one of the marines shouted as they ran over to the path.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Alright, let's move on." she added when the marines reached her.

Eve led the squad up the path towards the cave at the top. The path was dotted with boulders, especially near the top. They were the perfect places for any small Covenant troops to hide. When they passed the first few boulders near the top, Eve raised her sniper rifle and aimed behind them. As they passed them one-by-one, they came closer to the cave, but also closer to another danger. Were there any Covenant hiding in the cave? If there were, hopefully, they would not be more Hunters or any Drones.

None at all would be better Eve thought.

It seemed she had spoken too soon. When they were about fifteen feet from the cave…

"FOR THE GREAT JOURNEY!"

A small figure ran out of the cave and charged towards the squad. It was a Grunt. In both of It's hands was a plasma grenade. What was worse, they were lit. Eve fired a shot from her sniper rifle at the creature. The bullets hit the creature in the chest, killing it and sending it to the ground a few feet away. The grenades fell to the ground and exploded in a light blue light. The squad shielded their eyes until the light had gone.

"Stay alert," Eve said to the squad. "They'll be more suicide Grunts,"

Eve raised her weapon and ran ahead towards the cave; the squad followed. When she reached the cave, Eve stopped and aimed her weapon at the cave, keeping her finger on the trigger just in case any more Covenant tried to ambush them. She scanned every inch of the cave. After a few seconds, it was clear. She lowered her weapon.

"It's okay," she said to the marines as they reached her. "For now, at least." she added.

Eve ran into the cave; the squad followed. Very quickly, they were engulfed in the darkness that seemed to stretch on forever inside the mountain. They would easily get lost in here if they took a wrong turn into any other networks of caves inside this one.

"Hey, what's that?" one of the marines inquired, pointing ahead of the squad.

The squad looked ahead and saw a faint light at the end of the cave. It probably meant it was a way out of the cave. Wait a minute…but could it also be it was where more Covenant troops were?

"Stay alert," Eve whispered to the squad, keeping her voice low so any Covenant, if there were, at the end of the cave, could not hear her. "If there's any Covenant, we'll take them by surprise."

The squad raised their weapons and ran as quietly as they could towards the hole at the end of the cave. The light gradually grew brighter as they approached it. When they reached the end of the cave, they placed their fingers on their weapons' triggers, ready for, what might be, a gunfight. The light was coming from this hole. Eve stood on the edge of the hole and peered inside.

The light was coming from this silver floor, about ten feet below Eve, that led to a silver wall that had been built between a large gap in the side of the cave. A single door was on the wall, leading inside to whatever new thing(s) the squad may find. Eve lowered her weapon and looked over her shoulder at the squad, who were standing a few feet away, waiting for Eve to tell them what was in there.

"It's clear," she said.

Eve slid down the edge of the hole to the bottom; the squad followed. When they reached the floor, they ran over to the door. It opened automatically as they approached it. Eve raised her weapon and aimed around as she entered a long, wide corridor with a glass floor, pillars along the walls and some kind of small circular platforms next to the walls about half-way down the corridor. About thirty feet away at the end of the corridor was another door. Hopefully, it led outside.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

_"Eve!"_ came Mary's voice. She sounded like she was panicking. _"I'm giving the Brutes all I've got! But this is a heavy-weight fight! The _Dawn's_ only go the tonnage to last a few rounds. Find me a place to set her down, over,"_

Worry quickly filled Eve like a water tank being filled up. It was now a race against time to save Mary and the marines on the Dawn. If they failed, then they were all going to die.

The squad ran down the corridor towards the end. It opened as they approached it. The squad ran through the door. At once, the sunlight fell upon them, almost blinding them. They were back outside. Ahead of them, other than a few boulders, was a wide dug out pit that led up to a large path that led right towards a small hill between the side of the mountain and a large rock, that must have been part of another mountain that had probably collapsed. Leading left and going around the side of the pit was a sand pathway which had a few boulders near the edge of the pit. They needed to go that way next, as it was, apart from the corridor they had just left, the only way out of this area. Hopefully, it led to a landing zone, or at least something that could take them to a landing zone.

"Eve?" a voice ahead of the squad piped up.

The squad looked ahead to see a crouched marine move out from behind one of the boulders a few metres ahead of them. He was holding a battle rifle and he seemed to be in shock as Eve could see he was shaking slightly and breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Eve asked she and the squad ran over to him.

"Our pelican was tasked with landing in this pit," the marine explained. "Unfortunately, the Covenant had a few AA wraiths here and they shot us out of the sky. I'm the only one who made it out. But there is good out of this. We saw a good LZ for the commander's frigate."

"Can you take us to it?" Eve asked the marine desperately, hoping for a yes.

"Yeah," the marine replied, though he sounded uncertain.

The marine walked over to the path, stopping about half-way across it and pointed into the pit. Eve came over and looked. There, lying in the middle of the pit, was the wreckage of a pelican. Even though it was almost forty metres away, Eve could clearly see the damage, along the side and front of the craft, inflicted by the blast projectiles of the Covenant AA wraiths. The cog pit was smashed, the wings had been torn off the craft completely and the pelican's rear looked as though it had been crushed and bent. Weapons and vehicle remains were scattered across the sand. Among them, Eve could see the bodies of a few dead marines.

However, there was one vehicle left. A mongoose. Just one vehicle and there were six marines. Only two could fit on that vehicle so four, unless they found more vehicles would be following on foot.

Then, a large figure moved out from behind the wreckage. It was a Brute wearing dark blue armour with a dark blue helmet. Three smaller figures ambled out from the wreckage and mooched about among the weapons and vehicle remains. One of the Grunts moved towards a few rocks at the left end of the pit. When it reached the rocks, it curled into a ball and lay there. The Brute saw the sleeping Grunt as he went to pick up part of a destroyed mongoose. He grabbed the piece of wreckage and threw it at the Grunt, hitting the creature in the head. The Grunt screamed and woke up shaking, scared at thinking it was under attack.

"Do not let me catch you falling asleep again, you whelp!" the Brute shouted at the Grunt, who let out a small groan and lumbered back towards the wreckage.

"We need to get rid of these guys really quickly," the marine next to Eve said.

Eve nodded and turned her head round to face the rest of the squad.

"Marines, go along the path and get into a striking position behind the boulders," she ordered quietly.

The squad obeyed and, keeping low, ran along the path towards the boulders at the end. Eve laid down on the ground and crawled forward towards the edge of the pit, her sniper rifle aiming directly at the Covenant. The marine laid down next to her and kept his weapon on the Covenant as well, just in case they spotted them. Eve looked through the scope of her sniper rifle at the Covenant. So far, they were still unaware of their enemies presence. The Brute was still searching through the mongoose remains, as were the Grunts. The Grunt that fell asleep tried to sneak back over to the rocks. Unfortunately, the Brute saw what it was doing and barked something at the Grunt, stopping it and causing it to turn and lumber back towards the group. There were four easy targets to choose from. Any of them would do, but the Brute was the best one. If she targeted him, then the Grunts would flee and they could take the mongoose and start moving towards the LZ the marine said they had found. They still had to decide what to do with their numbers and the one mongoose, but they would come to that in a minute. Eve looked over at the rest of the squad. They were crouched down behind the boulders at the end of the path, perfect striking position. Eve looked back through the scope, aimed the weapon at her target and pulled the trigger.

A loud roar filled the air as the Brute was suddenly thrown forward onto the ground, dead. The bullet had struck him in the back and embedded itself in his chest, killing him instantly. The three Grunts screamed and ran from the wreckage towards the small hill. The marine lying next to Eve, along with the rest of the squad, fired on the Grunts, hitting and killing all three of them.

"Good work," Eve said. "Let's get down there,"

Eve and the marine stood up and slid down the side of the pit to the sand covered ground. They ran towards the wreckage of the pelican. The rest of the squad had climbed down the rocks and were also running across towards the pelican's wreckage. When they reached it, Eve ran into the pelican's resting area. Already, the marines were arguing amongst themselves who should get to drive the mongoose. Eve sighed and searched through the resting area. What she was looking for was a rocket launcher and any ammo. The marine that was going on the back of the mongoose, once they had stopped arguing, was going to need it. Finally, after opening a weapon storage crate underneath one of the seats, she found a rocket launcher with four rockets also in the box. Eve picked up the rocket launcher and checked inside it. There were two rockets already loaded into the weapon. Six altogether. Hopefully, it would last them on their way to the LZ.

_"Let your cannons roar!"_

Eve froze and looked up at the cog pit. That was where that voice had come from. It sounded like Vadumee. Eve walked over to the cog pit. Just as she reached it…

_"Hit them again!"_ came Vadumee's voice from a small radio on the control panel. _"And again! And again!"_

_"Seraph, on my six!"_ came a man's voice.

_"Charge the MAC."_ came Mary's voice. _"Give me a firing solution," _

Eve breathed a quick sigh of relief. Mary was still alive, but, by the sounds of the radio transmissions, she would not be for long. They had to find that LZ and fast! Eve turned and walked down the resting area to the pelican's entrance, where the marines were still arguing amongst themselves.

"Hey, I almost died when the pelican crashed!" the marine that had met the squad outside the cave exclaimed. "I should at least deserve to drive this thing!"

"Hey, we've lost a marine trying to get here!" another marine replied.

"Yeah, but everyone in this pelican got killed in the crash!" another marine argued back.

"Will you guys knock it off?" Eve shouted, silencing the marines. She walked out of the pelican holding the rocket launcher and the crate with the four rockets inside it.

"Jeez, you guys are like little kids!" she said. "Just quit arguing and get two of you on this thing! Or I'll blow it up and then we can all walk!"

The marines exchanged shocked looks. It was going to be bad if they walked, especially if there were more Covenant in this area and they had vehicles. They would be cut down easily.

"I'll drive," one of the marines finally said, climbing onto the mongoose.

"See, was that so hard?" Eve exclaimed. "Here," she added, handing the rocket launcher to another marine. "You ride on the back."

The marine nodded and climbed onto the back of the mongoose and placed the rocket launcher on his shoulder.

"What about the rest of us?" another marine asked Eve.

"We'll just have to walk until we find a Covenant vehicle," she answered.

"Uh, Eve?" the marine asked in a worried-like tone, pointing ahead. "We got company!"

Eve and the squad looked over to where the marine was pointing to see a large metallic vehicle shooting towards them. At the front was some kind of turret, that looked much like the old version of the shade turrets, where a large figure was sitting behind. Sitting on the sides of the vehicle were two more large figures. Brutes. Eve could see they were all wearing teal green armour. The vehicle they were on was something she had never seen before.

When the vehicle was about fifty feet away, the Brute on the turret shouted something and aimed the turret at the squad. A barrage of blasts flew towards them. The marine in the mongoose's driving seat started the vehicle's engine and drove the vehicle forward as fast as he could. The rest of the squad dived for cover as the blasts hit the ground where they were. One of them hit Eve's bodysuit, causing her shield to light up. Luckily, she had dived into the pelican's resting area, safe from any further harm, for the moment at least.

The large silver vehicle shot past the pelican's remains. Eve watched as it came to a halt a few metres away, giving her a clear view of the vehicle.

It was at least twelve feet long with a large main section that was also exactly like a Brute chopper, only there was no large tire-like spinning section at the front of the vehicle. Instead there was a large bulge at the front. At the very front of the vehicle, attached to the top of the bulge, was the large turret. Behind it, built into the bulge, was a small hole. The Brute piloting the turret was standing in the hole. On the sides of the main section were two large metallic wave-like sections, which explained how the other two Brutes were able to stay on the vehicle. However, at the back of the main section was a metallic seat with controls attached to the vehicle in front of it. Sitting in that seat was another Brute wearing teal green armour. So there were four Brutes altogether on this one vehicle.

"Engage that prowler!" one of the marines ordered.

The two Brutes sitting on the side of the prowler jumped off onto the ground. They were both armed with spikers. They raised their weapons and fired a wave of orange spikes at the marines, who dived for cover.

"Kill all of them!" the Brute driving the prowler shouted as he drove the vehicle forward.

BOOM! An explosion on the ground almost threw the prowler onto It's side. The two Brutes roared in surprise as they turned to see what had happened. What the hell has caused that to happen?

"Hey bear face!" a voice shouted at the two Brutes from behind the squad.

The Brutes turned to see the mongoose next to the pelican's remains. The marine with the rocket launcher aimed the weapon at them. One of the Brutes gulped.

"Eat this!" the marine shouted.

A rocket shot out of the weapon towards the Brutes. They dived to the ground, narrowly missing the rocket as it shot their heads, heading straight for the prowler, where the Brutes, the one that had been manning the turret and the one that had been driving the prowler, had just freed themselves from the overturned vehicle.

BOOM! The prowler exploded, throwing large chunks of silver metal in all directions. The two Brutes roared loudly as they flew through, landing several feet away. Eve and the rest of the squad fired on the last two Brutes. The barrage broke through the teal green armour and struck the Brutes in the stomach, chest and sides, killing them.

When the two Brutes fell to the ground, dead, Eve stepped out of the pelican onto the ground.

"Good work," she said. "Let's move on. We need to find that LZ,"

The squad nodded and ran away from the pelican's remains towards the gap between the side of the mountain and the large rock. The mongoose followed alongside. However, when they were about twenty feet from the gap, another large silver vehicle shot up from below onto the ground and drove full speed towards them. It was another prowler.

"WATCH OUT!" Eve screamed.

The squad dived out of the way as the prowler shot past them, almost hitting one of the marines. The marine driving the mongoose had to swerve to avoid being torn apart by the large and heavier Covenant vehicle. The Brute on the prowler's turret laughed and turned the turret towards the squad and pressed down on the weapon's trigger. A barrage of blasts flew towards the squad, kicking up sand as they hit the ground. The marines ran around frantically to avoid being hit by the blasts.

The marine on the back of the mongoose aimed his rocket launcher and fired a shot at the vehicle. However, the Brute driving the prowler swerved the vehicle right, narrowly missing the rocket as it exploded on the ground. The Brute driving the prowler laughed and drove full speed towards the squad. Eve raised her sniper rifle, hoping to kill the Brute that was on the prowler's turret. However, just when she was about to fire, the Brute saw her and fired a blast at her. It hit her arm and, despite having a shield over her bodysuit, it hurt. A lot. Eve gasped and grabbed her arm to stop the flaring pain. Big mistake.

"I'll take that, demon," the Brute on the turret shouted as he grabbed the sniper rifle from her when the prowler passed.

Eve watched, wide-eyed, as the prowler swerved round near the side of the mountain so the front was now facing the squad. The Brute on the turret bended the sniper rifle, breaking it in two. Eve gasped. The Brute was not even having use all of It's strength and it was not even sweating. The Brute threw the remains onto the ground and grabbed hold of the turret's trigger and pressed down. At the same time, the Brute driving the prowler drove the vehicle forward again. This time, heading straight for Eve.

Eve dived out of the prowler's way. The Brute driving the prowler growled and went to turn the vehicle around.

CRASH! The prowler smashed front first into the side of the pelican. The two Brutes sitting on the sides of the vehicle were thrown off the prowler onto the ground. The Brute on the turret hit the weapon. Purple blood trickled down the side of the creature's face. The brute that had been driving the prowler was thrown onto the ground.

_Not a good driver, is he_ Eve thought.

"Quick, while they're down!" one of the marines ordered.

The squad ran towards the prowler. When they were a few metres from the squad, they, apart from Eve, fired a barrage of bullets at the Brutes. The creatures were hit and fell to the ground dead. The squad ran over to the prowler.

"We can use this to carry the rest of us to the LZ," Eve said.

"I'm on the turret," one of the other marines said, quickly climbing into the turret.

"I'll drive," Eve said, getting into the driver's seat.

The last two marines climbed onto the sides of the prowler. Eve started the vehicle and reversed. It was quite difficult driving this vehicle since she was used to driving ghosts and banshees. Oh well. She would master it eventually, only if she did not end up killing anyone.

"C'mon, Eve," the marine driving the mongoose called to her. "See how fast you can make that thing go,"

The mongoose sped off towards the gap. Eve turned the prowler around and pushed the controls forward to maximum. The prowler shot forward after the mongoose. When it reached the gap, the crew saw it was a small hill that led into a large drop. The ground was about ten feet below the squad. A few more smaller sand hills were dotted throughout the drop, as was a large piece of curved rock that formed a ramp-like surface that led up to the gap. At the left side of the drop, built into the side of another mountain, was a large metallic surface that must have been either a door or a wall of a structure built into the mountain. At the other end of the drop, which had a sand hill about twenty feet high, was another gap, that was much wider, that had a wide sand path that led towards a trail of rocks about ten metres behind the gap ahead of the squad.

"Watch out! Chopper!" a voice shouted from below.

The group in the prowler looked down to see the mongoose swerve around a brute chopper. Driving it was a Brute with dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet. The Brute fired a shot from his chopper at the mongoose. It hit the back of it, causing it to shake and almost tip over. The marine driving the mongoose sped off and skidded around the side of the curved rock. The chopper chased after it.

"C'mon, we have to help them," Eve said.

She drove the prowler forward. The vehicle, landing with a loud crash as it hit the ground. The marine sitting on the left side of the prowler was almost knocked off by the curved rock. Eve drove the prowler forward and turned left around the side of the rock into the drop. The mongoose was driving erratically to avoid a barrage of blasts from the Brute chopper and four Covenant Brutes on the sand hill at the gap at the other end of the drop.

The marine with the rocket launcher fired a shot at the chopper. The rocket hit the front of the vehicle. An explosion filled the air, throwing large chunks of metal in all directions the Brute driving the chopper was thrown several feet into the air, landing next to the remains of what had been the chopper's front metallic tyre.

"One down, four to go!" the marine on the back of the mongoose shouted.

Eve drove the prowler forward towards the sand hill. The marine on the prowler's turret aimed the weapon at the Brutes and fired. A barrage of blasts flew at the creatures. One of them was hit in the chest, causing his armour to emit green volts of electricity. Another blast struck the Brute in the face. The creature fell to the ground, dead. The other two marines standing on the sides of the prowler aimed their weapons at the other Brutes and fired a barrage at them.

When the Brutes had been killed, Eve drove the prowler forward towards the gap. The mongoose followed close behind. When they reached it, they saw that the sand pathway turned right. However, they also saw the back of a large silver tail-like metal piece that lay on the ground a few metres away.

"What the hell is that?" the marine on the turret asked.

"Let's find out," Eve replied.

She drove the prowler forward, revealing more of the pathway and large metal parts that looked Covenant. The mongoose followed alongside them. After about ten feet, they saw it was the remains of a phantom. The craft's left side lay on the ground next to the craft. Large holes dotted the entire craft, revealing the insides of the craft. Eve could see the left cannon lying crushed and twisted on the ground next to the phantom's remains. A few inside parts of the phantom lay scattered on the path around the craft. By the looks of it, the phantom had taken quite a beating but, by some stroke of luck, managed to stay partly intact. Anyone who was on that phantom could be dead, but those Brutes the squad had just fought made them cautious. If there were any more survivors, they would kill them as they were going by the craft's remains.

"Stay alert," Eve said to the marines. "There might be more of them still alive in the remains,"

Eve drove the prowler left and down the pathway towards the remains that lay on the path's right side. The mongoose followed close behind. As they approached, the marine on the prowler's turret aimed the weapon at the phantom's remains and kept his fingers on the trigger. At the first sign of danger, he would fire on the remains, easily killing any Covenant survivors.

Luckily, there were no survivors. The squad eased, knowing they were safe. As the two vehicles passed over a few inside parts of the phantom, a nearby radio was still receiving transmissions from the battle above the Ark, only this time they were from Brutes, not the UNSC or the Elites.

_"Keep their backs at fraud! Destroy all the heretic ships!"_

_"Their cruisers are mixed with us! Watch your fire!"_

_"Do not fear the Prophets' wrath, because if you fail, I will have your hide!"_

"Hope we're winning," one of the marines said hopefully.

"So do I," Eve replied.

"Whoa!" the marine on the prowler's turret exclaimed. "Look!" he added, pointing ahead over the trail of rocks.

Eve and the marines looked and saw a tall metallic structure placed next to an enormous cliff that was part of another mountain. The structure was in the shape of a wall with huge pillars going from the top down to the ground. About half-way up the wall was a large walkway that ran along the wall until it was about half-way, where a large smaller wall section stuck out from the main wall and also went down to the ground. Eve could see that at the end of the walkway, it looked to have moved into the main wall, forming a wider, but smaller, walkway. Something was at the end of the smaller walkway, but what it was Eve could not tell.

"Do you think the LZ's on the other side of that wall?" one of the marines asked.

"If it is, then we're gonna need aircraft to take us over it," another replied.

Ahead of the two vehicles was a small cliff that led down to a sand covered ground about ten feet from the top of the cliff. Here, a path went two ways. To the right, the path went down a large slope to the bottom of the main wall as it stretched on to another cliff about seven hundred feet behind the squad, making the entire wall well over a thousand foot long. To the left, which was directly in front of the squad, led into a large open area that was wedged between the side of the mountain the squad had just passed and the wall. At the other end of the open area, starting where a large surface area of rock was just visible through the sand, was a rock pathway going along the side of the rock. The pathway led up to the sand pathway that went across the top of the surface rock. The sand pathway ended at the start of the wide walkway. In the middle of the open area was a large drop that had a just visible metal ground in the middle of the drop. The sand on the right side of the drop formed a kind of small slope that led down to the bottom of the wall.

"We'll head up there first," Eve said. "See if we can find a way through. If not, then we'll go the other way,"

Eve drove the prowler forward over the cliff onto the pathway. The mongoose followed close behind. The marine with the rocket launcher reached into the crate and loaded another two shots into the weapon, just in case any Covenant were here as well. The two vehicles drove down the side of the drop to the bottom. There, Eve and the marines could see a large blast door at the bottom of the slope, built into the bottom of the wall.

"There they are! Kill them!" a deep voice shouted from above the marines, which they could clearly hear.

The squad looked up and saw the bottom of two enormous vehicles fly off the edge of the walkway to the ground. Brute choppers. Driving them were Brutes wearing dark blue armour with dark blue helmets. Eve pushed the prowler's controls forward to maximum, causing the vehicle to shoot forward like a bullet. The marine on the vehicle's turret fired a barrage of blasts at the nearest chopper as it turned to launch a strike at the vehicle. The blasts broke through the armour protecting the spinning metallic tyre.

BOOM! An explosion on the ground next to the chopper threw the vehicle through the air. Before it landed, it broke apart into large chunks. The Brute that had been driving the vehicle fell to the ground and lay still. That was one down. Just one more to go.

The Brute in the other chopper, however, had seen what had happened to his comrade and, immediately, pushed his controls forward to maximum. The chopper shot across the drop towards the slope that led up to the start of the walkway. The marine on the back of the mongoose fired another shot after it but missed. Eve drove her prowler after the chopper. The marine on the prowler's turret fired at the chopper, trying to hit the Brute driving the vehicle. He too failed.

The chopper did a U turn and shot down the walkway towards the end. The prowler and the mongoose reached the start of the walkway and, to their dismay, saw that the Brutes had a shade turret set up at the end of the walkway with two barricades next to it. Pretty much one of the perfect ways for the Covenant to stop any UNSC vehicles from getting through the wall. The chopper the squad had been chasing was parked near the turret on the left side of the walkway. The squad just managed to catch a glimpse of a large figure squeezing through the gap between the shade turret and the barricade to It's right.

"Great!" one of the marines holding onto the prowler's side growled. "How the hell are we gonna break through that?"

"We'll have to call for help," Eve told the marine. "Let's hope they bring weapons to tear those defences apart!"

She placed a finger on the radio in her ear and was about to speak when…

"WATCH OUT!" a deep voice from the end of the walkway roared.

The squad looked to the end of the pathway and saw a small figure fall out of the shade turret. A Grunt. Something must have hit it and killed it instantly, but what? Then, the barricades and the shade turret exploded. The metallic remains collapsed to the walkway floor. The ball shaped section of the shade turret rolled away from the circular platform on the walkway floor. It fell over the side of the walkway and disappeared.

"What the hell's going on?" one of the marines holding onto the prowler's side asked.

"I don't know," Eve replied. "I don't like this at all," she added.

"Should we go on?" the marine on the back of the mongoose asked.

"We have to," Eve answered. "Just stay alert," she ordered.

Eve drove the prowler forward down the walkway towards the end. The mongoose followed close behind. As they approached the shade turret and barricade remains, an orange laser shot out from behind the corner wall, that led to the smaller walkway, and hit the Brute, that had been piloting the chopper, in the face. The creature roared loudly as it fell to the floor and lay still. What the hell was going on? Were the Covenant under attack by a new enemy? Eve knew those orange lasers. She had seen them before, somewhere. She finding it hard to remember exactly when she last saw those coloured lasers. Wait a minute! Now she remembered. Yes! She had seen those lasers when… Oh no! They belonged to…

A large diamond shaped machine hovered out from behind the corner wall. It had a small silo on the front of it with a small blue light next to it. It was a sentinel. Three more hovered out after the first.

"Fire on them!" Eve ordered.

"No, stop!"

The squad froze where they were, their fingers just mere micrometres from pulling the triggers of their weapons. However had told them to stop had saved these sentinels from, being blown apart.

A large shape hovered down towards the edge of the walkway. The squad looked and saw it was a pelican. The front was facing the walkway. Eve could see John and two pilots in the cog pit.

_"Glad you could make it here, Eve,"_ he said, which Eve could hear through her ear radio. _"We got some new allies,"_ he added, pointing at the group of shook her head and shot a cross look at John. It was as if she were saying _You've made a big mistake letting these things join us._ John ignored her and picked up a radio on the cog pit's control panel.

_"Ma'am,"_ he said. _"Hocus almost lost his pelican's wing. But we found a good LZ nearby. It's perfect for the Dawn to land in. We also found a structure on the other side of this wall. It matches Auto's description of the map room from the first Halo ring,"_

_"A Cartographer,"_ came Mary's voice_. "Good, it should help us get a fix on Truth's location. Secure the LZ and I'll bring the Dawn down and we can push through that wall."_

_"Roger that,"_ John replied. _"Eve, follow my pelican. We'll lead you to the LZ," _

The pelican turned so the resting area was now facing the walkway. The craft then flew off and turned left towards the end of the wall. The sentinels hovered after John's pelican.

"I don't like those things being here," the marine on the prowler's turret said.

"Join the club," Eve replied. "I hope they don't turn on us. We've got enough problems dealing with the Covenant,"

"It's like they don't even see us, though," the marine driving the mongoose piped up.

"Oh, they see alright," the marine in the prowler's turret said to his comrade. "They just haven't decided what to do with us yet,"

"Alright," Eve announced, bringing the conversation to an end. "We better follow or we'll lose them,"

She reversed the prowler left before turning it right so it was now facing the start of the walkway. She drove the prowler down the walkway and did another U turn when they reached the end and drove back into the open area's drop. The mongoose followed close behind.

The two vehicles drove up the side of the drop and, when they reached the cliff they arrived through into the open area, turned right into the next path that led towards the next section of the wall. The two vehicles drove down the path to the end and turned right, revealing a wider pathway between the trail of rocks and the bottom of the wall. A few of the pillars that came down on the wall's side drove deep into the sand. At the end of the next pathway was another turning that led right up a small sand hill. A few Covenant barricades were scattered about but, by the looks of it, they must have left them here and forgotten about them. Probably because of the sudden UNSC and Elite joint attack on the Ark.

As Eve drove the prowler towards the end of the pathway, she placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"John, how far are we from the LZ?" she asked.

_"Not far, Eve,"_ he replied. _"It's just on the other side of the next cliff line that leads to this end of the wall."_

As Eve lowered her hand, the marine on the prowler's turret suddenly started firing a barrage of blasts at an unknown danger.

"What's wrong?" Eve asked the marine. "Why are you fir-"

She quickly saw the answer when a loud crash drew the squad's attention. They looked to see the front of a ghost up against one of the pillars. Lying on the ground next to the vehicle was a dead Grunt. It must have shot out from the next path to try and stop them, but had obviously failed.

"The Covenant are most likely up ahead as well," one of the marines holding onto the prowler's side said.

"Get ready," Eve ordered. "We'll take them by surprise,"

She drove the prowler forward towards the next turning. The mongoose followed close behind. When they reached the turning, they turned left and drove up the small sand hill to the top.

Suddenly, Eve stopped the prowler, almost causing the mongoose to crash into them if it had not skidded to a halt, kicking up a cloud of sand in It's wake. One of the marines went to ask why she had stopped them but quickly knew why.

From somewhere up ahead, near the cliff line, they could hear blast fire and the shouting of Brutes and. Another battle was raging up ahead, but who it was between was the question. Was it the sentinels? Or was it John's pelican? They had to find out.

Eve drove the prowler forward and turned left up the side of another small sand hill. The mongoose followed them. When they reached the top, the squad saw several large boulders scattered across the hill top, which was quite large. Several paths criss-crossed around the boulders. One led to a large cave that went through the cliff line. Like earlier, a destroyed phantom lay against one of the boulders, It's insides scattered across the ground next to it.

The source of the noise was several ghosts hovering about between the rocks. Grunts were piloting them. With them were several Brutes wearing teal green armour. They were firing on something behind a large boulder in the middle of the hill top. The voice of a man shouted made the squad's eyes grow wide. They were firing on marines!

"C'mon, we have to help!" Eve said.

Eve drove the prowler full speed towards the Covenant forces. The mongoose sped after her. The battle came closer and closer with every passing second. The marines in the prowler saw what Eve was trying to do and braced themselves for what was coming. The target came closer and closer. Then…

CRASH! One of the ghosts was sent spinning sideways through the air, landing with an almighty crash on another boulder. The Grunt that had been piloting the craft was thrown out onto the ground. It did not rise afterwards.

"Watch out! The demon!" one of the Brutes, who was wearing gold armour with a gold helmet, shouted.

The ghosts immediately scattered, as did the Brutes. Two marines, taking cover behind the remains of a warthog and another mongoose, waved at the squad as they passed.

"Thanks, guys," the marines shouted.

The two marines climbed onto the mongoose and the one in the driver's seat started the engine. The vehicle's engine hummed. The marine pressed his foot down on the accelerator, causing the mongoose to shoot forward. The two marines joined their comrades in driving away the Covenant.

Eve and the marines on the prowler were chasing after a ghost that the Brute with gold armour was now driving, having kicked the Grunt, that had been driving it, off the vehicle, which resulted in the creature being killed by the marine on the prowler's turret. So far, the ghost was doing well to evade them. It had taken them around the side of the entire hill, almost resulting in the prowler turning over onto It's top at one point. The marine on the turret was trying to fire but every time he had the ghost in his sights, it would go behind a boulder or suddenly turn and speed off in another direction. They had to do something.

Then, Eve had an idea. She turned the prowler around, doing a 180 degree turn, and sped off in the opposite direction. Now the ghost was not getting away from them. It was coming towards them! As the prowler passed a boulder, the ghost came shooting out from behind the warthog remains. The Brute looked out over the back of the vehicle to see where his pursuers were. Huh. They must have given up. The Brute turned back to face the front of the vehicle. Oh no! He roared in panic as the prowler came straight for him and, in blind panic, grabbed the ghost's control and thrust them left. The vehicle flew sideways away from the prowler, narrowly missing being hit by it, only to crash into the phantom's remains. Eve turned the prowler around and drove towards the phantom's remains. The Brute groaned as it stood up holding It's head. The crown had been knocked off in the crash. The marine on the prowler's turret fired a barrage of blasts at the creature, easily breaking through the armour around his chest, killing him.

The mongooses were not having as much luck. They had destroyed one of the ghosts but the remaining two were giving them a hard time. In fact, they were being chased by the ghosts this time. The marine with the rocket launcher turned round and fired a shot at one of the ghosts. The Grunt driving the vehicle moved out of the projectile's way, narrowly missing it as it exploded on the ground. The Grunt laughed and fired a barrage of blasts from It's vehicle's cannons at the mongoose. The marine driving the mongoose turned around one of the boulders, narrowly missing having the back of the vehicle being blown off.

CRASH! The two mongooses crashed head first into each, throwing the marines on them to the ground. The driver of the mongoose with the rocket launcher marine groaned and rubbed his head.

"Are you alright?" the driver of the other mongoose asked.

"Yeah," the marine replied.

"Haha! You die now, bad guys!" a high pitched voice cackled.

The marines looked to their right to see the ghost, that had been chasing them, hovering just a few feet away. It's cannons aimed directly at them. Then, another shape appeared at the other end of the boulder. The marine looked and saw it was the other ghost. The Grunts driving the vehicles placed their hands on the cannon's triggers, ready to kill the marines.

"Get down!" one of the marines shouted.

"AAAAHH!"

The high-pitched scream filled the air. The Grunt of the ghost at the left end of the boulder fell to the ground, dead. The other Grunt screamed and put his ghost into reverse. It crashed against the side of another boulder on the edge of the hill. It was an easy target. The marine with the rocket launcher aimed his weapon at the vehicle and fired.

BOOM! The ghost exploded and fell to the ground a burning piles of metal. The body of the Grunt fell to the ground next to the vehicle.

As the marine stood up, a large silver vehicle hovered out from behind the boulder at the other end. It was the prowler

"You guys alright," the marine on the prowler's turret asked.

"Yeah, we're okay," one of the marines driving the mongooses replied.

The marines climbed onto the two mongooses and drove out from behind the boulder. Eve reversed the prowler and drove over towards the cave. The mongooses followed alongside.

"The LZ here's perfect, Eve," the marine driving the mongoose to the right of the prowler said to her. "The only problem is that the Covenant have heavy armour scattered across it. Some of it AA,"

"Let's just be glad It's not another AA gun," Eve muttered under her breath.

The vehicles entered the cave, driving around many boulders along the side next to the walls. The end of the cave was only a few metres ahead of them, giving them a clear view of an enormous plateau. The vehicles drove out of the cave into the plateau.

The plateau was enormous. Wedge in between a gap in the middle of an opening between two small cliff lines. A large drop was in the middle of the plateau. Sand pathways went around the side, leaving a few large caves underneath them going into the rock the sand covered. The vehicles were on one of the sand pathways at the front of the drop. At the other end of the plateau was a large piece of rock, which was up against the cliff line on the left side of the plateau, with several entrances on It's sides, all connecting to one another, making the rock look like a giant ant's nest. A sand pathway went past the rock on the right side of the rock, leading to a wide open ground about thirty to forty metres in both length and width. After that was an enormous cliff that led to the never ending sand ground far below the mountains.

Then, Eve saw what the marines had warned her about. On the pathway that went around the left side of the drop was a cross shaped platform with a blue haze shooting out from the middle of the platform up into the air. Hovering about ten feet above the cross shaped platform was a circular platform with pillars going around the sides of it. On the pathway next to the rock was another cross shaped platform with a circular platform hovering above it. On both were figures with beam rifles. Jackal snipers. Below the platform next to the drop were two parked choppers. Two Brutes wearing teal green armour were standing guard next to the vehicles. Next to the rock were more parked choppers. Scattered across the top of it, the squad could see several figures with shields next to them, Jackals, and a few smaller figures that were lumbering about, Grunts.

A loud boom filled the air. The squad froze. At first, they fought they had been spotted. Then, they saw a large green blast shoot up into the air from behind the rock. More booms filled the air, followed by more green blasts shooting into the air after the first. It was then the squad saw a pelican moving about from side to side to avoid getting hit by the blasts. It was amazing to see that even though there was an enemy ship hovering in the air above the plateau, other Covenant troops were not worried of the threat. In fact, they were just acting as if the pelican was not even there.

"That's John's pelican!" Eve exclaimed. "We better clear this area quickly whilst their focused on him," the marine on the prowler's turret replied.

"We'll go around the side and take care of those guys," the marine driving one of the mongooses said, driving the vehicle left along the path towards the Covenant.

Eve drove the prowler forward along the side of the drop towards the open area at the end of the plateau. The other mongoose followed. The squad in these two vehicles knew they had to be quick if they were going to surprise the Covenant forces here and quickly clear a landing zone for the Dawn.

Suddenly,…

"INTRUDERS!"

At once, a barrage of blasts flew at the prowler and the mongoose driving alongside. The Jackal on the platform ahead of the two vehicles fired a shot at them. The laser hit one of the marines, holding onto the side of the prowler, in the head, killing him instantly. The body fell off the prowler onto the ground. The marine on the prowler's turret aimed at the Jackal and fired. The blasts struck the creature in the chest and face. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the platform floor, dead. That was one of the Covenant here dead.

Another hundred to go Eve thought as the prowler and the mongoose shot past the large rock into the large open area.

The marine on the prowler's turret fired up at the Jackals. The blasts easily broke through the shields of the creature and hit their targets, killing them. The Grunts screamed and ran for cover, only for most of them to suffer the same fate. Only three were left, hiding in the tunnel network inside the large rock. The marines decided to ignore them and turned their weapons towards the anti-air wraith, which was still firing up at John's pelican.

_"Eve!"_ John's voice shouted from her ear radio all of a sudden. _"Look out behind you!"_

Before Eve could turn to see what the danger was, she was suddenly pulled out of the prowler's driving seat. A Brute with dark blue armour had grabbed her by the neck and was now focused on choking her to death. Before the marines could help, two large silver vehicles shot past them and stuck the side of the prowler. The choppers! Oh God! The marines on the other mongoose were probably dead by now, and soon these ones were going to be dead as well. The prowler tipped over on It's side, throwing the marines on the vehicle to the ground. The other chopper stuck the mongoose and pushed that up against the plateau's right cliff line, throwing the marines to the ground.

The Brute laughed as he looked at Eve gasping for breath.

"You shall pay for following us, demon!" he growled evilly at her, smiling. "The Great Journey will soon begin. And neither you or your allies can stop us!"

The marine reached into the belt around his waist and took out a Brute spiker. He raised the weapon at Eve, aiming directly at her head. All he would have to do was pull the trigger and Eve would be dead. She closed her eyes and waited for the spikes to fire and penetrate her skin, for death to take her.

It never did.

Suddenly,…

"AAAAHH!"

Eve, suddenly, felt the grip on her neck being released. She fell to the ground and opened her eyes and rubbed her neck, gasping for breath. The Brute had roared loudly, which was alongside the noise of an engine. As Eve looked around, she saw the Brute that had grabbed her neck, lying dead on the ground a few feet away. A vehicle drove up to her. It was a mongoose. Driving it was a marine. It was the other mongoose with It's driver still alive! The other marine, however, was no longer on the back. It was obvious he was dead.

"Are you alright?" the marine asked her as he held out a hand for Eve, which she took.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied.

"Die, you bear faced bastard!" one of the other marines shouted.

Eve and the marine looked to see the marines, that had been on the prowler, firing on the Brute on one of the choppers, who was struggling to remove himself from the vehicle as it had tipped over when trying to do a 180 degree turn and drive full speed at the marines. The bullets hit the creature and he lay still on the ground. The other chopper tried to flee but the marine with the rocket fired his last shot at the vehicle. It hit the side and broke it apart completely. The Brute skipped across the surface of the sand and fell down into the drop with his vehicle, disappearing from sight.

"That's the last of them," one of the marines said as he tried to push the prowler over back onto It's bottom.

Eve and the other marines ran over to help. They pushed the prowler back onto It's bottom. With their vehicle now back on It's upright side, now they had to deal with the AA wraith.

"How the hell are we gonna destroy that thing?" one of the marines asked.

"Quick! Flee!" a high pitched voice screamed.

The squad shot round to see the three Grunts run out from the rock towards the pathway that led into the drop. They were easy targets. The squad fired on the Grunts, hitting and killing all three of them. Eve saw a small blue object with an orange lightning bolt down the front of it fell from one of them. It was a plasma grenade. She could use that to destroy the wraith, and then Mary could bring the Dawn down and then they could continue their attack through the wall.

Eve ran over to the dead Grunts and picked up the plasma grenade. She then ran over to the wraith. Her target was the spinning fan-like object on the back of the wraith. That was the weak spot on the vehicle. She had destroyed a wraith through this way before. Now she was going to do it again.

Eve grabbed hold of the back of the wraith and pulled off the shield that was over the spinning fan-like object. She pressed her finger down on the plasma grenade, causing it to light up a light blue flaming colour, making the device look as though it was on fire. She threw the grenade into the fan-like object and ran from the wraith, determined to get as far away from the vehicle as possible before it blew.

BOOM! An explosion tore off the back of the wraith. Eve skidded to a halt and turned to see the wraith explode again. This time, the front armour was taken off completely. The body of the Brute, that had been driving the Covenant tank, was thrown several feet into the air before it landed with a thud on the vehicle and rolled off down the side onto the ground.

That was it. The landing zone was clear.

_"Commander,"_ came John's voice as the pelican hovered several metres towards the right cliff line. _"LZ's clear. Bring her down,"_

_"Roger that,"_ came Mary's voice. _"Beginning my descent,"_

The squad looked up into the sky to see a tiny black dot slowly grow bigger as it descended from a series of flashes far away in space above the Ark's surface. They hoped now they would have better weapons ready to break through any further Covenant defences.

"Is the _Dawn_ rated for atmosphere?" one of the marines asked, sounding slightly worried as the black dot became large with every second, quickly taking shape to be the _Dawn_.

"I guess we're gonna find out," another marines replied as the ship was now only a few hundred metres away and closing.

The squad could already feel the wind from the ship blowing onto them. It was getting fiercer.

"Alright, take cover!" Eve shouted to the squad.

They ran towards the large rock and hid in the network of tunnels. Just in time as well. A second later, the ground shook violently as if an earthquake had struck the area. The wind was launched across the plateau as if it were being hit by a super hurricane. Platforms, bodies, even entire vehicles were lifted into the air, landing with a loud crash into the drop. The prowler scrapped loudly as it moved across the top of the rock, making a small cloud of dust fall from the ceiling inside the tunnels. Eve prayed the rock would not collapse, which was probably what the rest of the marines were thinking.

Finally, after a few seconds, the shaking and the super gale strong force winds stopped. The squad emerged from the rock to see the Dawn now hovering no more than fifty to sixty feet above them. The front of the enormous ship stuck out of the cliff line that separated the plateau from the area in front of the wall, making it look as if it were a large monster scanning the horizon.

_"Thanks, Eve,"_ came Mary's voice. _"We were almost blown apart up there," _

Eve and the squad ran over to the frigate so they were just below an enormous rectangular-like on the bottom of the ship.

_"Did the Elites get a fix on the Cartographer?"_ Mary asked.

_"Yes, ma'am,"_ John replied. _"It's just on the other side of that wall. But the Brutes have heavy armour all around it."_

_"Don't worry, I've already got a plan to combat this," _Mary said.

Immediately after she had finished speaking, as if on cue, a long rectangular section of the ship's lower rectangular section lowered from the ship towards the ground. On it were three large scorpion tanks. Further up at the end nearest the enormous cliff was a warthog with a machine gun turret built onto it. On two of the scorpion tanks were marines. One of them had It's four spaces covered. The other had only two spaces covered. The last had none of It's spaces covered. The warthog was completely full.

_"If we can't go over the wall, we'll go right through it,"_ Mary continued. _"Eve, take one of the tanks. Lead the attack and break through any defences the Brutes have. If you come across any locked doors, Wally will be happy to open them up,"_

Wally was coming with them. Well, that was good. He could lead them through the wall to the other side, if he could remember the way, as he had told her and Mary and John and the Arbiter that he did not know the Ark that well. Then again, he had never set foot on it before.

When the rectangular flood hit the ground, the vehicles on it rolled off the sides onto the ground. The squad ran over to the tanks and climbed on. A figure hovered off the rectangular floor and landed a few feet from Eve. It was Wally. For some reason, he looked very happy to be here.

"Are you alright?" Eve asked him as she walked over to him.

"This… This is just… Amazing!" he was saying. "I-I cannot believe I am on the Ark! The place which created the Halo rings!"

Eve rolled her eyes.

"I take it you find this place amazing," she said to him.

"Yes," Wally replied, nodding and turning to look at her. "I-I mean, can you not believe it? All of the information a-and technology and even the very past of the Forerunners is left here! I cannot wait to explore this place."

"You can go sightseeing later," Eve said, taking Wally by the arm and leading him over to one of the scorpion tanks. "Right now, we need you to lead us through this wall,"

"Y-yes," Wally said, shaking his head slightly to put him back into reality instead of his dream of exploring the Ark. "Sorry. I will lead you through the wall,"

They reached the tank and Eve climbed on-board and got inside the tank's driving seat. In front of her was a small control panel with a holographic screen, giving her a view of what was outside the tank. With the holographic screen were the controls for the tank's main cannon and small machine gun.

Now it was time to begin the attack.

Eve drove the tank forward towards the pathway. The rest of the vehicles followed. Wally, who was holding onto the side of the large bulge-like section, watched as the cave, which was the entrance to the plateau, came closer. As the convoy of UNSC vehicles moved across the sand pathway, that went across the right side of the drop to the pathway that led from the cave, Wally saw the remains of the circular platform on the ground on the other side of the drop. Lying on the ground was a dead marine. Not far from the marine's body was a Jackal's body. So the marine was dead. Two had been killed trying to take the plateau. Many more could, and most likely, would quickly follow.

"Look out! Ghost!" one of the marines on Eve's tank yelled all of a sudden, pointing ahead at the cave.

Eve, who had heard the marine's warning, looked on holographic screen to see a small Covenant vehicle shoot out of the cave. It was a ghost. Piloting it was a Grunt. It would be the first target. Eve aimed the tank's main cannons towards the ghost as it sped towards them. The Grunt was obviously launching a suicide attack as a ghost would stand no chance against a scorpion tank, especially if there were three of them. She aimed at the vehicle and fired.

BOOM! The ghost exploded into a fireball and scrapped across the ground, completely disintegrating the Grunt's body. The ghost's remains ploughed through the sand, coming to a halt a few feet in front of the leading scorpion tank. Eve drove on.

"Huh, tank beats ghost!" one of the marines, sitting on the side of Eve's tank, said as the tank drove past the vehicle's remains.

"We got more company!" another marine on the tank warned, pointing ahead.

He was right. Eve had heard him and looked on her tank's screen. Two large figures were running down the cave towards the end of the cave. When they came into the sunlight, they saw they were a pair of Hunters.

Eve aimed the tank's cannon at the Hunters and fired a shot, making the tank shake slightly. The shot hit one of the Hunters. The creature roared loudly as it fell backwards to the ground, dead. The other Hunter growled and aimed It's cannon at the tank. A light green light began to form inside the cannon's silo. It was preparing to fire! Eve saw the danger but it would be another few seconds before she could fire the tank's main cannon again. Suddenly, another loud boom filled the air. A tank shot hit the other Hunter, throwing it backwards to the ground, dead. Eve went wide-eyed. Lucky for her and the marines on her tank, one of the other scorpion tanks had fired on the Hunter just as it was about to fire.

"Tank beats Hunter!" a marine sitting on the side of Eve's tank, the same who made the remark about the ghost, said.

Eve drove the tank onward towards the cave. The rest of the convoy followed her. When they entered the cave, the darkness swept over them, blocking out most of the light from outside the cave. Eve kept her finger on her tank's weapon's trigger. If any Covenant in the cave tried to surprise attack them, she would kill them quickly before they could do her or any of the marines any harm.

Finally, the convoy reached the end of the cave. Ahead of them was the hill top. The remains of the previous battle still lay scattered across the hill top. However, another was about to take It's place. Ahead of the UNSC convoy was a large shape with a silver bottom and a purple top with three cannons attached to the silver bottom. It was a Covenant phantom. The craft was hovering no more than ten feet above the ground. Then, two objects dropped from the craft to the ground and the phantom hovered back up into the air. The two objects were ghosts, both being piloted by Grunts.

The phantom tried to hover away from the ground as the danger approached, but it was already too late. Eve turned the tank's main cannon at the craft, whilst the marines fired on the ghosts, and fired a shot at the craft's rear. The two tail-like sections on the back of the phantom were blown off completely. The tank behind Eve's fired a shot up at the phantom as well, hitting it in the side, blowing off the right turret and part of the right door. Eve fired another shot at the phantom, hitting it in the centre of the bottom of the craft.

At once, small light blue explosions erupted all over the craft. A loud charging sound filled the air. Then…

BOOM! The phantom exploded, throwing large chunks of It's remains through the air to the ground. Loud crashes followed as the remains hit the rocks and tumbled down the side of them out of sight.

"Tank beats everything!" the marine exclaimed as he killed one of the Grunts piloting one of the ghosts. "Oh man! I could do this all day!"

When the other Grunt had been killed, Eve turned her tank left and drove down the side of the hill top and turned right towards the slope path that led to the bottom of the wall. The rest of the convoy followed. When Eve's tank was about half-way down the slope path, a Brute chopper shot out from behind the rocks and charged straight towards the convoy. Eve fired at the chopper, blowing it apart and killing the Brute driving it. She led the convoy on to the bottom of the path and turned left.

Ahead of them was a slightly more dangerous obstacle. It was a wraith. However, this time it was not an anti-air wraith. It was a normal wraith. The enormous vehicle fired a mortar blast at Eve's tank. The marines dived off it to the ground. Wally hid behind the sphere-like section of the tank and braced himself.

BOOM! The blast hit the front of the tank, making it rock wildly. Eve growled as she hit her head against the top of the hatch. She aimed the main cannon at the wraith and fired a shot. The wraith was hit and rocked slightly as the projectile hit the side of the vehicle's front armour. The wraith reversed away from the tank towards the path at the other end of the main path. Eve, with the marines running alongside, drove the tank towards the wraith. She fired another shot at the wraith, hitting it at the top where the mortar blasts were fired from.

BOOM! The wraith exploded, throwing large pieces of the wraith's armour, and even the body of the Brute driving it, into the air. The vehicle immediately deactivated and fell to the sand covered ground. The marines climbed back onto the tank and Eve drove on towards the next path, turning left with the rest of the convoy when they reached the end.

"Look out! The demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Ahead of them was another circular platform hovering above a cross shaped platform. Around the cross shaped platform were several barricades. Hiding among them were brutes. There were about three of them, all wearing teal green armour and armed with spikers. As usual, on the circular platform, was a Jackal with a sniper.

The Brutes fired a barrage of orange spikes at the marines on Eve's tank. One of them was hit and fell to the ground, dead. The other marines, along with help from the marines on the tank behind Eve's, fired at the Brutes, killing one of them. The others, however, hid behind the barricades, which were bullet-proof. It was going to take something more powerful to kill the Brutes. Meanwhile, one of the other marines fired up at the Jackal just as it was about to fire a shot from It's beam rifle at another of the marines, killing the creature.

"We need to use a tank shot on those barricades," one of the marines shouted as he fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the barricades, missing the Brute that was hiding behind it.

_Time for me to blow them apart _Eve thought as she aimed the main cannon at the barricades.

BOOM! A tank shot filled the air, hitting a gap between the barricades. At once, large pieces of metal were thrown through the air. One of the brutes roared loudly as it flew through the air, only to stop abruptly as it hit the side of the trail of rocks. The other Brute landed on the ground a few metres from the barricades.

Eve led the convoy on past the Covenant encampment towards the entrance to the open area. When they reached it, they saw that the Covenant had been busy setting up defences on this side of the wall. At the other end of the open area were two wraiths. Another wraith was at the end of the walkway that ran along the wall. The crew could also see several smaller Covenant vehicles scattered across the walkway. This time, they were ready for hold the line against the UNSC assault.

_"Eve,"_ came a marine's voice, through her ear radio, as she drove into the open area. _"Head up onto the walkway. Have that cyborg guy pick that lock. We'll lead the attack through the lower doorway in the wall."_

_"Excuse me,"_ came Wally's voice. _"I am a normal Human, like you. And I would prefer to be called either 'Wally' or '343 Guilty Spark',"_

_"Yeah, well your also our ticket through this wall,"_ the marine replied. _"So if you don't mind?"_

_"I will help you in entering this structure,"_ Wally said.

Eve smirked and looked on her holographic screen. Out of the comer of the screen, she saw Wally hover away from the tanks towards the end of the walkway. Smaller objects appeared out from behind the rocks and headed towards the end of the walkway as well. Eve zoomed in and saw they were the sentinels.

_Oh, they finally decide to show up and help us!_ she thought frustratingly.

"Watch out! Mortar blasts!" one of the marines on her tank yelled.

Eve saw the deadly blast descending towards her tank and drove into the drop. The warthog, however, failed to see the danger. BOOM! The blast exploded on the vehicle, destroying it completely and killing the marines on it.

"You bastards are gonna die for that!" one of the marines on one of the other tanks yelled at the wraiths.

The tanks aimed their cannons at the wraiths at the other end of the open area and fired. One of the wraiths was hit by all three tank shots and exploded into a fireball, killing the Brute driving it. The other wraith near it hovered away from the destroyed wraith towards the pathway. Two ghosts came zooming off the pathway and turned towards the drop to launch their own attack. However, they were easy targets for the scorpion tanks. Eve fired on one of them, destroying it. Another fired on the ground a few feet in front of the other ghost, causing that one to crash into one of the large pillars. The marines on Eve's tank fired on the Grunt that had been piloting the ghost, killing it.

A loud explosion erupted on the walkway above the tanks. The marines looked up and saw a large piece of armour fall to the ground next to Eve's tank. It was wraith armour. Seconds later, the body of a Brute fell down to the ground. By the looks of it, the sentinels had blown apart the wraith at the top of the walkway. That was good. It was one less obstacle for the marines to deal with. Now there was just one more wraith to destroy and the entrance onto the pathway would be clear.

The last wraith fired another mortar blast at the tanks. It hit the ground a few feet behind Eve's tank, making it shake slightly. Eve drove her tank forward up the side of the drop. Even though the tank was in a vulnerable position, it was safe from the wraith's mortar blasts. If she could try and lure it towards her or away from her, then the other tanks could destroy it. Either way was going to destroy the wraith but Eve, and probably the other marines on her tank, preferred if the wraith moved away from them.

Unfortunately, that was not what happened. The Brute driving the wraith must have decided to launch a solo suicide attack, even if it meant losing the tank defending the walkway entrance. The wraith came forward, but now in front of Eve's tank as she had hoped. Instead, it moved a few metres right down the pathway and then moved forward onto the drop's side and turned towards Eve's tank. It was a perfect target. All the Brute had to do now was fire one, maybe two more times and Eve and the marines would be dead. The UNSC would lose the one thing that still keeping them going.

Suddenly, another two tank shots hit the side of the wraith. The vehicle exploded, throwing large pieces of the armour through the air. The Brute that had been driving the vehicle was launched into the air and landed with a thud against the side of the wraith and fell onto the ground, dead.

_"Good work, marines,"_ came John's voice as his pelican flew over the open area, coming to a halt next to the walkway. _"Eve, you go on inside the wall. We'll meet up with you on the other side,"_

Eve opened the hatch and climbed out of the tank. One of the marines ran over and took her place in the scorpion tank's driving seat. Eve ran onto the walkway as the tank tuned and drove back into the drop to join the other two tanks, who now had another warthog, that was completely full and had a grenade launcher turret built onto it, with them. Eve ran down the walkway to the end and turned left towards a large wall. Wally was hovering a few feet above the walkway floor and was firing a blue laser at the wall. He looked over his shoulder to see Eve.

"Hello, Eve," he said. "Oh, I cannot wait to get inside here. So much knowledge is buried within the walls of this structure,"

"You won't have long to go over it, Wally," Eve told him. "We do have a mission to complete first,"

"Yes. Right. Sorry," Wally replied. "Sorry, I am just… Overwhelmed to be here. This is a very sacred place to my creators."

"Well, it would be," Eve said. "Are you trying to unlock a door?" she asked Wally, who replied with a nod.

"One moment," he said, sounding like he was a hard worker trying to complete a long and tough task. "Almost. And… there we go,"

A rectangular shaped section of the wall, about four feet wide and seven feet high, moved forward several inches before rising up along the wall above it. Eve and Wally, who had hovered to the floor, walked through the opening into a large rectangular shaped room where the floor, about half-way down the room, went into a slope at about a 110 degree angle for about thirty feet down to the bottom, where a door was on the left wall near the corner that turned onto the end wall of the room. A platform walkway stuck out from the top of the slope until it was about half-way from the top of the slope to the end wall. At the end of the walkway was a circular end. On the floor at the end of the platform was a few metallic parts.

"Come," Wally said. "We must go into the next room."

Wally led Eve past the platform and down the slope to the bottom of the room. As the passed the platform pathway, Eve saw a sentinel hover up to the metallic remains at the end of the platform pathway.

"Why are the sentinels here, Wally?" Eve asked him.

"Because your enemy's leader has done something to activate them," Wally replied. "What it is, I do not know. But he must be stopped."

The two reached the door. However, it did not open automatically as they usually would do. Wally fired a blue laser from the bulge on his arm at the door for a few seconds until he stopped. The door opened. Eve and Wally walked through into a large cylindrical shaped room with a glass pathway going along the right wall. About half-way down the glass pathway was a control panel. At the other end of the pathway was another door on the wall opposite Wally and Eve. About fifty feet below the pathway was another walkway that ran along the left wall towards a large blast door on the front wall of the room. Another walkway went along the right wall of the room, where a large horizontal, rectangular shaped doorway was on the wall, leading into a large tunnel. What separated the two walkways was an enormous hole that was so deep that a cloud of mist was hovering in the air about a hundred feet below the walkway.

"Hey Eve," a man shouted. Eve looked and saw the three scorpion tanks and the warthog parked on the left walkway. "Try and see if there's anything that'll activate a bridge,"

"The control panel will help your marines," Wally said to her, pointing over at the control panel.

Eve nodded and walked over to the control panel. When she reached it, she rested a hand on a small trapezium shaped button on the control panel and pushed down. A loud charging sound filled the room. Eve looked down at the pathways just as a light blue light began to appear on the sides of the walkways. The lights on both walkways suddenly shot towards each other, forming a large energy bridge. The marines could now get across.

"Thanks, Eve," one of the marines shouted.

Eve nodded and watched as the scorpion tanks drove across the energy bridge to the other side. Bringing up the rear of the convoy was the warthog. The convoy drove through the rectangular doorway and turned right, disappearing into the tunnel behind the wall of the room.

"This way, Eve," Wally said.

Eve followed Wally across the pathway and through the doorway at the end into a small cube shaped room with a large anchor-like shaped object that was coloured dark silver. On the left wall of the room was another door. Eve and Wally walked over the door, causing it to open as they approached it, revealing a large rectangular shaped room.

Suddenly, the room shook violently. Eve grabbed hold of Wally to stop from falling over onto his back.

"What was that?" she asked him in an alarmed tone.

Before he could answer, a large unlocking sound filled the room. Then, the entire front wall of the room ahead of the two seemed to moved. It was because it was rising. Within a few seconds, the sunlight swept into the room. Eve and Wally looked through the new doorway and saw that they were outside. Ahead of them was a large, rocky open area with a sand covered ground. Many large boulders and trails of rocks formed paths between them. Along both sides of the open area were large rectangular structures that came out of the enormous wall. They had large pillars placed at an angle on their sides and slopes, at around 70-80 degree angles, along the sides of the structures. Far out at the end of the open area was a dark blue colour. By the looks of it, they must be near some kind of enormous coast.

Suddenly, a large metal leg slammed down into the ground outside the doorway. Eve and Wally gasped and looked up through the half-cylindrical gap the door had made to see that the leg was connected to some kind of large, metallic object. It then hit Eve. It was a scarab. The leg that had pounded to the ground in front of them was the front right leg of the enormous machine.

BOOM! The leg moved forward, crashing into the ground about seventy feet ahead. The rear right leg crashed into the ground in front of the structure. BOOM! BOOM! Two more legs, that Eve and Wally could not see, moved somewhere outside. The scarab moved right and climbed over the side of the structure on the right of the open area, disappearing from sight.

"Oh no!" Wally gasped as he shot up from the floor. "I must make sure they do not damage anything!"

Before Eve could stop him, Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered outside after the scarab. Eve sighed and moved her hand down the front of her face. Wally was starting to annoy her. Okay, she could accept that being here, to him, was an amazing thing, but that did not mean he should just shove everything else aside and try and worry some data the Forerunners had. Even if the data was useful, he still had to help her and the marines.

_Boy, he's changed a lot since he's come onto this place's surface!_ she thought frustratingly.

After a few seconds, she sighed again. She would have to try and remind him he was in a war later. Right now, she had to help punch through the Covenant defences.

Eve ran forward through the doorway outside. She saw that there was a lower level of ground about twenty feet below her, just below the edge of a sharp side of rock the sand was covering. This lower ground level led to a large blast door on the wall.

Three large shapes moved out from the wall. Eve looked and saw they were the scorpion tanks. A smaller shape shot ahead of them and turned right, disappearing behind a large boulder. By the looks of it, the warthog was going to pick her up, but how? It was still completely full. Oh that did not matter. She could easily follow the warthog to the tanks.

Eve ran across the ground towards a path that was between two large boulders that were at the end of two trails of rock. When she was about half-way to the pathway, a large explosion erupted from behind the left trail of rocks. Not even a second passed before a vehicle shot out from behind the left trail of rocks and drove full speed up the path. The warthog. It's passenger seat was empty.

The marine driving the vehicle waved as he saw Eve. He slammed his foot down on the brake, making the tyres screech loudly as the vehicle came to a halt a few metres in front of her. She ran over to the driver's seat.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"The Covenant have got a few patrols on the other side of those rocks," the marines replied. "One of their plasma turret got Samuels in the face, blew him right out of the warthog."

"Look out!" the marine on the turret shouted all of a sudden.

Eve and the driving marine looked at the marine and saw a shape shooting up the path towards them. It was a ghost. The marine on the turret aimed the weapon at the Covenant vehicle and fired a shot. The ghost seemed to break apart as it was hit. The Grunt that had been piloting the vehicle was thrown to the ground, tumbling several times before coming to a halt. The ghost's remains fell to the ground and skidded across it, throwing up a cloud of sand in front of it. It came to a halt a few metres behind the warthog.

"You drive, Eve," the marine in the warthog's driving seat said, climbing into the passenger seat and taking out a battle rifle from the compartment above the passenger seat. "You got better reactions then me,"

_I was just about to ask him if I could drive._ Eve thought as she climbed into the driver's seat.

She started the vehicle. The engine hummed loudly. She reversed the vehicle right before turning left and driving towards the pathway. Eve drove down the pathway, turning left at the end into another that curved left slightly, about half-way down it, which would take them to the back of the open area. Straight to the tanks. However, ahead of them was a large boulder. Around that boulder were several Jackals and Grunts. A plasma turret was set up next to the boulder, aiming directly at the warthog. A marine was lying dead on the ground not far in front of the warthog. That was the marine that had been in the warthog before he was killed. Eve wondered if any of these two marines were going to follow the same fate.

"You die, you big jerks!" one of the Grunts shouted at the warthog as it ran over to the turret.

Oh no! That turret would tear them to pieces. Eve had to stop him. She slammed her foot down on the accelerator, causing the warthog to shoot forward like a bullet. Just as the Grunt was inches from the turret…

SMASH! The turret was broken apart, as if it were a twig, by the warthog. The Jackals dived out of the vehicle's way as it drove on. The marine on the warthog's turret fired several shots at the Covenant soldiers, hitting two Grunts and a Jackal, killing all three of them. One of the remaining Jackals pressed down on It's plasma pistol's trigger and fired a charged shot at the warthog. The deadly plasma shot narrowly missed the marine's head and hit the boulder. The missed shot was a big mistake for the Jackal. The marine aimed the turret at the creature and fired. The Jackal brought up It's shield to protect itself, but the grenade shot easily broke through the shield and hit the creature, killing it.

When the last Grunt was gunned down by the marine in the passenger seat, Eve drove on down the pathway, turning left towards the open area. When they reached the open area, the tanks, about forty feet ahead of them, came to a halt.

"Glad you guys could join us," one of the marines on the side of the tanks shouted to them.

Eve and the two marines climbed out of the warthog and ran over to the nearest tank, which had only two spaces on the sides covered. The marine driving the vehicle climbed out of the tank's driving seat and sat one of the sides of the tank. The marine that had been on the warthog's turret climbed on the last space on the tank. The other marine ran over to another of the tanks and climbed onto an empty space on that one.

When Eve climbed into the hatch of the tank, she drove the vehicle forward towards a large spire shaped rock with several small caves, big enough for the scorpion tanks to drive through, ahead of them about half-way down the open area.

_"All armour, form up and follow Eve!"_ came a marine's voice through her ear radio. _"Hit 'em where it hurts!"_

As the tanks drove towards the large rock, Eve saw several large shapes appear on her tank's holographic screen.

_"Watch out, wraiths!"_ a marine warned through her ear radio.

The wraiths fired a wave of mortar blasts at the approaching tanks. All missed their targets, one coming within just under three feet of one of the tanks. Eve aimed her tank's main cannon at one of the wraiths, which was partly concealed in one of the small caves. The shot hit the side of the vehicle, making it rock slightly. The wraith reversed through the cave to the other side of the rock.

"Watch out! Choppers!" Eve heard a marine on her tank shout.

She looked on her holographic screen. He was right. Two large silver vehicles shot past the wraith, that had reversed out of the cave, and through the cave towards the tanks. Eve aimed the main cannon at one of the choppers and fired. The shot hit the vehicle, breaking it apart and throwing the remains, along with the body of the Brute that had been driving the vehicle, to the ground.

The other chopper fared better. It shot past Eve's tank and the Brute fired a barrage of blasts from It's cannons at the marines along one of the other tanks. They hit one of the marines, killing him and throwing his body to the ground. The other marines, even those on the other two tanks, fired at the creature but he moving too quickly to score a direct hit, and even if they did hit him the strike was not powerful enough to break through the armour. Even the tank cannons were having trouble trying to fire on the chopper. Eve wanted to help her comrades, but she was worried. What if she accidentally hit one of them? She could end up killing the marine driving the tank, or the marines on the side, or even all of the marines on the tank altogether. She was going to have to let this one go.

She aimed her tank's cannon back at the wraiths, which had advanced several metres, thinking that the scorpion tanks were tied up in trying to destroy the chopper. They were wrong. Eve fired a shot at one of the wraiths. It hit the vehicle's side, blowing it off completely. The wraith deactivated and fell to the ground. The Brute driving the vehicle roared in anger and tried to climb out of the vehicle's driving seat. Eve, however, saw him and fired another shot at the wraith. The front of the wraith was blown off completely and landed several metres from the vehicle. The brute was completely obliterated. Nothing of him would be left behind.

The other wraiths, about two were left, reversed through the rock's caves, hoping to regroup with other Covenant forces.

BOOM! An explosion erupted behind the tank. Eve opened the hatch and looked behind the vehicle to see the other chopper lying in ruins on the ground. The Brute, that had been driving the vehicle, was lying alongside it, dead. Good. Now they could continue to advance against the wraiths.

Eve lowered back into the scorpion tank's driving seat, closing the hatch behind her, and drove the tank on towards the rock. The other two tanks followed. However, when the three vehicles were about twenty feet from the rock, one of the wraiths drove forward into one of the caves. The tanks saw it but fired on the vehicle before they realised it was in one of the caves. The vehicle exploded, killing the Brute driving it, and fell to the ground and lay there a burning wreckage. It was now blocked and there was no way the scorpion tanks could move the wraith to get through.

_"Shit!"_ Eve heard one of the marines growl through her ear radio. _"We'll have to go quickly through the other caves! Keep your weapons ready!"_

Eve drove her tank towards the cave next to the blocked one. She drove the tank through the cave to the other side. One of the other tanks followed behind hers. (the last tank drove through another cave further down the rock towards the structure on the right of the open area). Ahead of the tanks was the bottom of a hill they had been driving down. The hill led to a flat sand covered ground that had a large cube shaped building with a circular front at the bottom of the hill, the circular front facing towards the dark blue ahead of the open area. A large ramp led from the top of the structure to the ground. Ahead of them, at the bottom of the hill, were more wraiths, bringing the total number to four.

The wraiths fired a wave of mortar blasts at the tanks. The one behind Eve's tank was hit and reversed back towards the cave. Eve aimed her tank's main cannon at one of the wraiths and fired a shot. It hit the wraith's side, causing it to fall off and explode, killing the Brute driving it. The wraith deactivated and fell to the ground. The tank further down the rock fired a shot at another of the wraiths, hitting that one but was not as successful as Eve's.

_"We need to try and strike them in the side,"_ a marine said through her ear radio. _"Fire on the wraiths' sides!"_

The tank that reversed into the cave drove forward again and stopped a few metres from Eve's. It and Eve's tank fired a shot each at another of the wraiths. The first projectile badly damaged the front armour, causing the wraith to shake slightly. The second projectile broke through the armour, smashed into the wraith's driving seat and exploded, completely incinerating the Brute inside and breaking the wraith into four large pieces.

_"Hell, yeah!"_ one of the marines shouted happily, which Eve heard through her ear radio. _"Now that's how you take down a wraith!"_

Eve rolled her eyes and aimed the tank's cannon at one of the two remaining wraiths, which was moving as quickly as it could towards the structure at the bottom of the hill. Another of the tanks fired another shot at the wraith, hitting it on the side and blowing apart it, killing the Brute driving the vehicle. The last wraith turned and tried to flee from the tanks. However, the Brute driving it made the big mistake of exposing the vehicle's rear. The three scorpion tanks aimed their cannons at the wraith and fired.

BOOM! The back of the wraith exploded, being torn off completely from the vehicle. The wraith came to a halt where it was. The Brute driving it pushed open the hatch and climbed out of the wraith. Eve saw him on her tank's holographic screen and fired another shot at the vehicle. The wraith exploded and threw the brute several feet through the air. He landed about ten metres from the bottom of the ramp at the back of the structure and did not rise afterwards.

_"Good work,"_ came Mary's voice through Eve's ear radio. _"Now we can get into the structure,"_

_"Which one is it? There are two main ones,"_ another marine's voice asked.

_"Our sources tell us it should be in the structure to your right,"_ Mary replied.

BOOM! The ground shook violently. Eve looked on her holographic screen but saw nothing. What the Hell had caused the ground to shake just now?

_"Oh crap! We got company!" _a marine shouted, which Eve from her ear radio.

Then, a large metallic leg slammed into the ground about sixty metres in front of the tanks. Eve saw this on her holographic screen. It was the scarab's leg. That could, and did, mean only one thing.

"Scarab's back! Get the tanks to cover!" the marine on Eve's tank shouted.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The other three legs of the scarab slammed onto the ground. Eve frantically pushed her tank's controls forward to maximum, hoping to get behind the cover of the structure before the scarab spotted them. The other tank alongside hers did the same. Unfortunately, the last tank, that was about thirty feet away, was too far to get to safety and as it moved out from behind the protection of a few tall boulders, it came right into the scarab's view. The enormous machine's front cannon opened up like a flower blooming in Spring, revealing a huge silo in the middle of the metal petals protecting the silo. A green laser charged up in the silo and shot out towards the tank. It hit It's target, engulfing it in a huge explosion as the tank's ammo shells blew up. When the laser stopped firing, all that was left of the tank was the front half of the main section, the rest having been completely destroyed. Everyone on the tank was dead.

_"Bastards are gonna pay for that!"_ Eve heard a marine growl from her ear radio.

She was thinking the exact same thing. If that scarab stayed operational, they were all going to die. Well it was time she showed the Covenant that these big machines of theirs were not invincible. She had destroyed one before in New Mombassa and another in Voi. This would be her third scarab kill, if she could get aboard it.

"Eve, move the tanks onto the top of the structure. We'll be safe from the main cannon up there," a marine said.

Eve drove the tank towards the ramp. The other tank followed close behind. As they reached the ramp and began to drive up it, she became aware of another danger. Although they would be safe from the scarab's main cannon, they still had the turret on the top of the machine to worry about. At least it was not as powerful as the cannon but if it scored a few direct hits it could be just as deadly.

As the tanks reached the top of the structure, Eve's worry was perfectly justified. A barrage of light green blasts flew at them. One of them landed on the structure's roof's floor no more than a few inches in front of Eve's tank. She turned it left as she drove the tank onto the roof. Another blast struck the back of her tank, making it shake slightly. Eve aimed the main cannon at the turret and fired a shot. It hit the front of the turret and blew off a piece of the armour. Damn! It was still operational, and as long as it was, they would be in for a rough fight.

When the two tanks reached the top of the structure, they fired a few shots at the scarab in an attempt to break through the armour. However, the armour was too thick and the only damage they scored was another hit against the turret, which blew off another piece of armour. There was no way they were going to win the fight with the machine this way. There had to be another way! Wait a minute. Eve, zigzagging the tank, which had travelled almost to the very edge of the front of the ceiling, desperately to avoid getting hit again, remembered back to when she fought the last scarab on Voi. How did she destroy it? A better question; how did she even get on-board it?

Of course! She got on-board it when the legs had been disabled. That was it then. That was how she was going to get on-board. However, it was easier said than done. She could die destroying this thing, as she almost had done when she was fighting the last scarab, but this was the only way to destroy it. The only question now was; how was she going to get on-board the scarab? The last time she jumped onto the top of the scarab's turret and climbed down from there. She would not be able to do it this time because the turret towered over the top of the structure. She could not jump onto the main section of the machine either, or even jump onto it at all. The scarab was too far away and was moving too much. Looks like she was going to have to board another way, but how?

It was then Eve saw a strange difference about this scarab. It had large purple coloured metal shield-like objects placed along the side of the main section between the two legs either side of the machine. On the last scarab, it did not have them. Maybe, just maybe, if they were blown off, she could climb on-board and repeat what she had done last time.

That was it then! That was how she was going to get on-board. The only thing that had to work was the metal shields being blown off and the legs being hit enough to disable the scarab.

Eve aimed the tank's main cannon at one of the metal shields on the right side of the scarab. It was proving difficult as the scarab was moving a lot. Finally, she fired a shot. The projectile, unfortunately, hit the top of the leg in front of the shields, doing little damage. She growled and fired another shot, this time hitting her target. The shield partially collapsed and fell onto the ground, but it was still attached to the side of the scarab. She needed to score another direct hit to blow the shield off completely.

Another projectile from the other tank, which had driven up and stopped alongside Eve's tank, flew at the scarab and hit the right pathway above the shield Eve was hoping to destroy, leaving a large black scorch mark on the pathway. Eve fire another shot at the shield, hitting it again. The shield exploded and collapsed some more, causing another large chunk to fall to the ground. A large hole was left in the top of the shield, revealing a dark blue/black surface inside the back of the machine's main section. It was still partly attached.

_Just one more hit should do it!_ Eve thought hopefully as she aimed the main cannon at the shield.

Eve pushed down on the cannon's trigger. The tank shook slightly as another projectile shot out towards the shield. The shot hit the shield, blowing it off the scarab in a small explosion. The remains fell to the ground. The hole had been made. Now they had to disable the scarab.

Eve reversed the tank away from the edge and opened the hatch.

"Eve, what are you doing?" one of the marines asked her.

"I'm going to climb onto the scarab and take it down from the inside," she told the marine. "I need one of you to pilot the tank and fire on the scarab's legs to disable it,"

"But you'll get killed-" the marine began.

"Look, this is not the time for arguing!" Eve cut off the marine. "We'll be dead otherwise. I need one of you to pilot the tank and disable the legs. I also need a weapon," she added.

"Here," another of the marines piped up, throwing Eve his battle rifle which she caught.

The marine that had been talking to Eve climbed over to the tank's driving seat and disappeared inside it, closing the hatch behind him. Eve jumped off the tank onto the metal floor of the structure's top. As she stood up, she took one last look at the marines on the tank.

"Good luck!" one of them said to her.

Eve nodded and ran across the roof to the ramp. When she reached the ramp, she ran down it, almost stumbling once or twice, to the bottom and ran around the right side of the structure, stopping at the circular side of the structure. She looked up at the scarab as it was moving about. The turret was still firing at the tanks on the structure's top. A few projectile's shot out from the roof to the scarab, but only one hit the targets Eve wanted them to hit. The legs. The projectile blew off a large piece of the armour, throwing it to the ground to join the rest of the metal from the shield.

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

_"Marines, fire on the legs!"_ she ordered. _"We need to disable it!"_

The projectiles ceased for a few seconds as soon as she stopped speaking. At first, Eve panicked, thinking that the turret had destroyed them. However, she was reassured when another projectile shot out at the front right leg, striking the centre of it. Another large piece of the leg's armour was torn off. Another projectile followed a second later, breaking off another piece of armour. The attack was going as planned.

Finally, after a few seconds of being hit, the projectiles tore off a large piece of the armour on the leg's centre. A loud beeping alarm ran out across the scarab. The scarab lowered so It's knee caps were sticking up into the air. This was it! Eve had to get there quickly before it rose up again.

She sprinted as fast as she could from the side of the structure across the ground twards the disabled machine. As she reached the scarab's main cannon, she heard a deep voice shout something from above. She looked up and saw a Brute wearing dark blue armour with a dark blue helmet aimed his Brute shot down at her and fired. Eve dived forward, narrowly missing the grenade as it blew up on the ground. She quickly picked herself up from the ground and ran on towards the hole in the main section's side where the shield had been. The Brute fired a few more shots after her, but all missed.

Eve finally reached the hole and pulled herself into the scarab. Like on the last one, this scarab had a large room with a rectangular shaped hole at the back of the machine's main section. Ahead of her, on the other side of a curved wall, was the dark blue ramp that led up to the top of the scarab.

**"I have opened the portal to this hallowed place,"** came a voice Eve knew well. Truth's! She aimed her battle rifle round frantically to find the source of the noise but it seemed to be coming from everywhere in the room. It was probably on some kind of built in com. **"In hopes that more of our Covenant would join us,"** Truth's voice continued. **"Alas, save for a rabble of Heretics and their Demon allies, we are all that remains on this new world. So we must temper joy and sorrow in our hearts, for those who were left behind," **

_If only he was here!_ Eve thought, annoyed, as Truth's com stopped talking.

Eve kept her battle rifle close and looked back over at the curved wall. She knew that the Brute that had just fired on her would waste no time in charging down the ramp to attack her. Eve ran over to the side of the wall and stopped. She pressed her back up against the wall's side and raised her battle rifle, only this time she had the rifle butt facing the entrance to the room. She did not want to alert all the Covenant forces on the scarab, so she was going to have to hit the Brute with her weapon rather then fire on it. All she had to do was hope that it knocked the creature out otherwise she would be on the scarab forever trying to destroy it.

A large shadow filled the light beaming in from the entrance to the main section, followed by loud footfalls. It was the Brute. Eve breathed in as the shadow grew larger with every passing second. She had to strike quickly or the Brute would alert any other guards on the scarab of her presence.

Suddenly, a large creature came out from behind the wall. Eve struck like lightning with her battle rifle, hitting the creature in the forehead. The Brute was thrown to the floor, groaning in pain. As he lifted himself onto his knees, Eve swung her fist at the creature, hitting him in the face. The Brute fell to the floor, out cold.

Eve jumped over the Brute's motionless body and ran up the ramp back outside onto the front of the top of the scarab's main section. All she had to do was run down one of the pathways behind her to the back of the machine and destroy the core then get the hell of it before it was blown sky high.

Eve turned and ran down the left pathway. When she reached the end, she turned right into the area where the core was.

"AAAHH! DEMON!"

Three Grunts had been keeping guard at the back of the machine. However, without their Brute to lead them, they quickly scattered. One of them, however, aimed It's plasma pistol at Eve and fired a shot, hitting her and causing her shield to light up. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the Grunt, causing it to yell loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead.

With the guards taken care of, Eve could now focus on the core. Like on the last scarab, the core was a huge metal circle with four small clamp-like objects sticking off the circle at the top, bottom and the sides, connecting it to the wall. In the middle of the circle was the blue light. In the corners was the orange skin that resembled the body a Hunter was made up of. Again, also like on the last scarab, an enormous shield was over the core.

Eve walked over to the dead Grunt's body, knelt down and took the plasma pistol from the dead creature's grasp. She aimed the weapon at the shield and pressed down on the trigger. A green ball began to charge up on the front of the plasma pistol. It grew bigger and bigger with every second. Finally, Eve released her grip on the trigger. The deadly shot flew through the air towards the shield.

The shot was so powerful that it broke through the shield and also hit the light blue light directly in the centre. The light immediately changed from blue to red. A loud alarm erupted from inside the core. This was it. She had caused the core to go into malfunction. Now she just had to get off the scarab before it blew up.

Eve ran back up the left pathway to the top of the scarab and turned and ran back down the ramp into the scarab's room. She ran around the wall and headed straight for the large rectangular hole in the back of the scarab. It was getting closer. Just about another ten meters. She was almost there!

"You are not leaving this scarab alive, demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Before Eve could react, she was pinned to the floor by a large pair of hand. The Brute! He had regained consciousness and had been waiting to pounce on Eve when she would run back down the ramp to escape the enormous ticking time bomb. Eve hit the Brute in the face. He growled and clutched down harder on her sides. Eve winced in pain. If she did not get away from this Brute, then she would be blown to smithereens. She had to do something.

Eve threw a punch at the Brute, hitting him in the eye. At the same time, she brought back her legs and kicked with all her strength. The Brute was thrown through the air and landed on his back, adding more pain to the blow to his eye. Eve wasted no time in continuing the fight She scrambled to her feet and rushed out of the scarab, jumping out of the room onto the ground, and and ran as fast as she could away from the machine towards the structure where the tanks were.

Suddenly, a loud charging sound filled the air. It sounded like a Hunter's plasma cannon preparing to fire. It grew louder and grew louder. Then…

BOOM! A gigantic explosion lit up the sky behind her. Eve could actually feel the heat of the blast on her back even though she was quite a distance away but she did not stop running. When she reached the structure, she stopped and turned to see the scarab lying on the ground an enormous pile of metallic ruins.

_Three-nil to me_ Eve thought.

_"Not bad, Evelyn,"_ Came a deep voice from her ear radio. It was Vadumee's. _"I saw that explosion from orbit,"_

A large shape in the sky caught Eve's eye. She looked and saw it was an assault carrier. It was the Shadow of Intent.

_"The Brute's fleet lies in ruins,"_ Vadumee said. _"Find where the wretched liar hides, so I may place my boot between his guts!"_

_"We'll know soon enough, Shipmaster,"_ came Mary's voice. _"Eve, head towards the Cartographer structure on your right."_

Eve nodded and ran towards the large structure at the right of the open area. Ahead of her was the enormous ramp that went up the side of the structure to, hopefully, a door that led inside the structure. As she passed the side of the structure, the marines from the scorpion tanks ran after her.

_"Watch out, Eve!"_ John warned from her ear radio. _"Infantry on the ramp!"_

Eve looked up at the ramp. He was right. A squad of Covenant soldiers were running down the ramp towards the ground. They were made up of three Grunts, a Jackal and a Brute wearing teal green armour. The Brute roared something and pointed at the squad.

_"Mop 'em up!"_ John ordered.

Eve led the marines towards the bottom of the ramp. When they reached it, they fired a barrage up at the Covenant. Eve fired a burst of ammo at one of the Grunts, hitting the creature in the face, killing it. Another of the marines fired up at the Jackal. The creature, however, brought up It's shield and deflected the bullets. Two marines fired up at the Brute, hitting it in the face and chest. The creature roared in pain as blood flowed from the wounds. The two marines fired again at the creature. The Brute crumpled to the floor and lay still.

"AAH! Leader dead! Run away!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed.

The last two Grunts turned and ran up the ramp, waving their arms about in terror. The Jackal shot round and screeched something after them, probably telling them to get back here and fight. Big mistake. Eve fired a burst of ammo at the Jackal's exposed back. The creature let out a screech that filled the air as it collapsed onto the ground, dead.

"Move up," Eve ordered.

The marines followed her up the ramp towards the top. However, they quickly discovered, when they were about three quarters of the way up, that the top, as they saw it, was actually a flat piece of floor with two large cube shaped objects in the middle of the floor. Behind the two large cube shaped objects was a smaller ramp that led up to a larger floor about fifty feet above the first. That was the top.

Eve and the marines ran onto the smaller floor and up the ramp towards the top. When they reached the top, a large shape hovered down towards the floor. It was a pelican. When it was about ten feet above the floor, which the pelican stopped lowering, the resting area's door opened and a tall figure stepped out onto the floor. It was the Arbiter. He was carrying a Covenant carbine.

"Well done in destroying the scarab, Evelyn," he said to her as he joined the squad.

"Glad you could join us, Arbiter," she replied. "Now we need to find a way in here,"

"There," one of the marines piped up, pointing to the wall of the structure ahead of them where a small door was.

The squad ran towards the door. It opened as they approached it, revealing a short,, dimly lit corridor with pillars going along the walls and another door at the other end, which was about thirty feet away. About half-way down the corridor was a shorter corridor that led left and also had pillars going across it. However, scattered across the floor of both corridors were the bodies of several Grunts. Who, or what, had killed them?

Eve and the Arbiter walked into the corridor first, their weapons at the ready in case they were attacked. The marines followed them. When they reached the smaller corridor, they saw several metallic remains on the floor. Sentinel remains. So a battle had taken place here and that is why there were Grunt bodies.

"Do you think the sentinels killed them?" Eve asked the Arbiter.

"There is a chance they may have done," the Arbiter replied. "I just pray they are still our allies and have not turned against us,"

Then, the door at the other end of the corridor opened, revealing a pitch black room on the other side. The squad aimed their weapons at the door, ready to fire on whoever, or whatever came out of it.

"Eve?" a familiar voice said.

A figure stepped out into the corridor. It was Wally.

"Where have you been?" Eve asked him as she walked over to him.

"I just had to make sure your enemies did not damage anything," he replied.

Eve sighed. She went to say something but was cut off by the Arbiter.

"Oracle," the Elite said. "Can you lead us through this door?" he asked him, pointing down the shorter corridor, which was about ten feet long, to a door at the end.

Wally nodded and walked past Eve and into the shorter corridor. Eve just sighed again and walked with the rest of the squad into the shorter corridor. Wally fired a blue laser at the door but it did not unlock like it had done last time.

"Hmm," he said. "I seem to have crossed a circuit,"

"Well, let me have a look," one of the marines piped up. "I'm quite good with technical stuff,"

"No, thank you," Wally replied in quite a rude tone. "I can do this,"

The marines stood where he was. He was quite shocked by this. Not that he had never received anything like this before, but it was by Wally that shocked him. When he was on the Dawn, he seemed like a nice person. Now, all of a sudden, he just turned quite rude.

"I'm getting worried about him, Arbiter," Eve whispered to the Elite. "He just seems to… No longer care about this mission anymore,"

"It is because he is on the Ark," the Arbiter replied. "He is no longer becoming aware of the danger of the Covenant. He is much like Truth, in a way, as he is no longer becoming aware of the risks. He is just continuing on in any hopes that this 'Great Journey' will happen. And it is obvious he is willing to leave his entire army behind if he has to,"

Eve took in the Arbiter's words and looked back at Wally, who was still trying to unlock the door. She was starting to get worried about him. What if he decided he no longer wanted to help them? If that happened then how could get through to the Cartographer, or worse; How could they get to Truth?

"I would be careful of your friend, Evelyn," the Arbiter whispered to her. "He could go rampant,"

Before Eve could ask him what he meant by 'rampant', the door opened up.

"Excellent, this way," Wally announced.

The squad ran forward through the doorway. They found themselves in a large square shaped room with some kind of large energy sword shaped pillar in the middle of the room. Along the walls were a few top hexagon shaped bulges. On the right wall, in the top right corner of the room, was another door.

"Stop!" Eve suddenly hissed, holding out an arm to stop the squad.

"What is I-" one of the marines asked but quickly saw why.

On the wall next to the door was a Brute wearing dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet. He was facing away from the squad and had his hands placed on his stomach. Why did he-Oh very nice! He was urinating on the wall.

"He is defiling this room." Wally growled.

"Leave him," the Arbiter said. "He is mine,"

The Arbiter crept forward towards the Brute as quietly as he could. When he reached him, he swung his weapon at the Brute's back. The Brute's eyes went wide and rolled back into his head and his mouth opened up to let out a strangled cry. The Brute fell backwards onto the floor. The Arbiter then brought down his weapon onto the Brute's face, just to finish him off.

"Come," the Elite said to the squad.

The Arbiter ran through the door, which opened as he approached it, on the wall behind him. The rest of the squad followed, jumping over the Brute's body. They found themselves in a long corridor in which the floor, about half-way down the corridor, went down at a 220 degree angle. At the end of the corridor on the left wall was another door. The squad ran down the corridor to the door. It opened as they approached it. The squad ran through.

They found themselves in a large square shaped room with several large cube shaped objects scattered in a square formation. Along the left and right walls were raised sections of floors, about three feet high, that had pillars going along the edges. On the wall at the end was another door. The rooms of the wall were a dark brown colour with Forerunner markings engraved into them.

"Intruders!" a deep voice shouted.

The squad dived for cover as a barrage of blasts and orange spikes flew at them. One of the marines, however, was hit and thrown to the floor, screaming in pain as he had taken a wound to his side. Another spike flew at his chest and drove deep into it. The marine let out a quiet gasp and went quiet. He was dead.

Eve, who was hiding behind one of the cube shaped objects with the Arbiter, looked out from behind her cover to see two Brutes with teal green armour, both armed with spikers, hiding behind the cube shaped object directly ahead of hers. Behind the other cube shaped objects was another Brute with gold armour, who was armed with a plasma rifle. The Brute saw Eve and fired a blast at her, to which she quickly moved her head back behind her cover, narrowly missing the blast as it hit the side of the cube shaped object and faded away.

"We need to find a way to flank them," she said to the Arbiter.

"Go along one of the paths, Evelyn," he replied. "I will cover you. Go,"

Eve nodded and ran out from behind the cube shaped object towards the left raised pathway. When she reached it, she pulled herself up onto it. Suddenly, another blast struck her in the side, causing her shield to light up. Eve looked down the pathway and saw a Jackal with It's shield raised at the other end. The creature fired against Eve. This time, she dodged the blasts by hiding behind one of the pillars.

"Damn!" she hissed to herself. "At this rate, we'll never get through them!"

Eve looked out from behind the pillar at the Jackal, who fired another blast at her. Eve moved her head back behind the pillar, narrowly avoiding the blast. She had to find a way to get rid of that Jackal so they could get to the Cartographer.

The Arbiter, who was still hiding behind the cube shaped object, saw the Jackal at the other end of the pathway. The creature's front was protected but his side was not. He could kill it, or at least injure the Jackal enough for Eve to kill it. Either way was good. The Arbiter aimed his carbine at the Jackal and fired.

A loud screech filled the air. The Jackal fell forwards onto the floor, dead. Eve turned her head towards the squad and saw the Arbiter nod at her. She nodded back at him and ran out from behind the pillar and down the pathway to the end.

Eve hid behind the pillar at the end of the pathway and aimed her weapon at the gold armoured Brute. So far, he was still firing on the squad, completely unaware of the threat behind him. Eve placed her finger on her battle rifle's trigger and pressed down. A barrage of bullets flew at the creature, easily breaking through the armour. Purple blood flowed from the impact points. The Brute roared in pain as it placed a hand over the wounds to try and stop the flow of blood. It's momentum caused it to stagger out from behind the cube shaped object. Big mistake. The Arbiter fired on the Brute, hitting him in the chest, killing him.

"Pull back!" one of the remaining Brutes shouted.

The two teal green armoured brutes ran out from behind their cube shaped object towards the door, causing it to open automatically. They ran through the doorway into a small corridor, with dark brown walls and a glass floor, that rose up several feet to another door at the end.

"C'mon. We have to catch them!" Eve ordered.

She jumped down from the pathway and ran towards the door. The rest of the squad followed. The corridor's door opened as she approached it. Eve ran into the corridor and just managed to catch a glimpse of a teal green armoured back at the other end before the door closed.

"Keep your weapons ready," she said to the squad behind her. "There's no doubt they'll be ready for us,"

Eve raised her weapon and ran up the corridor to the door at the end. The squad followed, their weapons, apart from Wally, also raised. The door opened as Eve approached it, revealing another room much like the same they had been in. It had four large cube shaped objects in a square formation around the room, two raised pathways going along both side walls and pillars along the side of the pathways, dark brown walls engraved with Forerunner markings and a door on the wall at the other end of the room. But what was different about this room was that, apart from it being slightly bigger than the last room, was that there was another door on the same wall Eve was at, but just slightly further down to her left, and that there were also a few small half C-like dark brown objects in a cross formation in the middle of the room.

"There! Kill the demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve dived forward behind one of the cube shaped objects as a barrage of blasts flew at her, narrowly missing an orange spike that almost hit her leg. The rest of the squad ran in and took cover either with her or behind the other cube shaped object at their end of the room.

Eve looked out from behind her cover to see the two teal green armoured Brutes hiding behind the cube shaped object directly ahead of theirs. Behind the other cube shaped object, at the top left area of the room, was another Brute with dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet. Two Grunts were hiding behind the cube shaped object with him.

Eve moved her head back behind the cube shaped object. Next to her were the Arbiter and Wally.

"Should I go along the path again?" she asked him.

"I will go along the other and we kill them before they retreat," he replied.

Eve nodded and the two ran towards the pathways, the Arbiter towards the left and Eve to the right. Eve pulled herself up, narrowly avoiding a blast from one of the Grunts, and ran down the path to the end. She hid behind the pillar and waited for the Arbiter. A few seconds passed. Where the hell was he? Wait a minute. He might be pinned down. Eve ran back up the pathway and hid behind another of the pillars, so she was now in line with the middle of the room, and looked out from behind there. The pillars on the opposite pathway, like in the last room, were not in line with hers. She saw two Jackals with their shields raised and firing down the pathway at the Arbiter, who was hiding behind one of the pillars. Eve had to help him, but she also had to be quick, otherwise the other Covenant in the room could easily fire on her and kill her.

She knelt and moved out from behind the pillar, her battle rifle aimed directly at the two Jackals. She pulled her weapon's trigger. A barrage of bullets flew at the creatures, hitting one of them in the side. A loud screech filled the air as the first Jackal that was hit fell to the floor, dead. The other Jackal staggered away towards another pillar, probably being injured by one of the bullets that went through the first Jackal and hit the other. The Arbiter saw the injured creature and fired a shot from his carbine at the Jackal. The creature let out a loud screech and fell to the floor, dead.

With her friend's path clear, they could now deal with the rest of the Covenant. The Arbiter ran down his pathway to the end. Eve did the same. The Brutes had not tried to attack their enemies. In fact, they were not even focused on killing them. They were still trying to kill the rest of the squad. This was the perfect chance.

Eve and the Arbiter, who were now at the ends of their pathways, looked out from behind their pillars and nodded, confirming they were ready to attack. The two stood out from behind their pillars and fired. For a few seconds the air was filled with the shouts and screams of dying Grunts, Brutes and gunfire, both Human and Covenant. Finally, the noise came to an end. All of the Brutes were lying dead on the floor, as were the two Grunts, all having been killed outright in the barrage.

Eve stepped down from the pathway and ran towards the door. The rest of the squad followed her.

"The Cartographer should be nearby," Wally said as he reached Eve.

"Alright," she said. "Marines, you stay here and keep guard." she ordered. "Wally, Arbiter, let's go,"

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter ran through the doorway as it opened, revealing a short and thin silver corridor with a glass floor and pillars along the walls At the end, on the opposite wall was another door. The three ran down the corridor to the end. The door opened as they approached it. They ran through the doorway.

They found themselves on a large platform overlooking the biggest waterfall any of them had ever seen. It stretched on for miles both ways and the water seemed to be pouring endlessly over the edge, kind of making it look like the old Medieval phenomenon of anyone sailing too far to edge of the world would fall over the side. Two large cylindrical pieces stuck out from the wall above them for about one hundred feet. The platform had two slightly curved pathways sticking out of the top, forming two short pathways, making the entire thing look like a C. At the back of the platform, directly ahead of the three, was a terminal with holographic controls hovering between two pillars that stuck out from the sides of the terminals. Looking both left and right, they could see many of these types of platform along the structure they were on.

"There," Wally said. "That is the Cartographer,"

The three walked forward towards the terminal. Eve placed a hand on one of the holographic switches. At once, an image of a galaxy appeared. It was the Milky Way galaxy.

"That's our galaxy," she said to Wally. "We're beyond the rim,"

"Two to the eighteenth light years from galactic centre, to be precise," he replied, hovering out so he was on the other side of the image.

The image of the Milky Way galaxy changed to a large green outline of a structure Eve had seen before. The Ark.

"I had always assumed that the Ark was part of a… Shield installation," he said. "But it seems I was mistaken,"

"That's not really a first, is it," Eve said.

"Not at all," Wally replied. "I did have a complete understanding of Installation 04," he explained. "But my makers wisely limited mine and other monitors' knowledge. Compartmentalization-in case I was captured by the Flood-"

Wally stopped where he was and looked sadly down at the Ark. Eve knew what it was that had stopped him. It was Mendicant. His old friend, or had ben old friend before he had defected to the Flood.

"Are you okay, Wally?" Eve asked.

"Y-yes. I am fine," he replied, snapping back into reality.

"Can you tell us exactly where we are?" Eve asked him.

"Here," Wally answered, pointing at the circular ball in the middle of the Ark, where a small light blue light appeared.

"And Truth?" Eve inquired.

"Unfortunately, he is near Ark's superluminal communication arrays," he replied. "The Meddler has triggered a barrier, a defensive perimeter around the Ark's core,"

"Look out!" the Arbiter, who had walked up the left pathway sticking out of the top of the platform, warned, pointing out into the air.

Eve and Wally looked and saw two Covenant banshees flying left along the side of the structure. Following close behind was a phantom. The Brutes were probably going to launch a last attack to stop them and kill the marines here.

"The barriers will be difficult to disable," Wally said. "I find it odd how my creators would place such a comprehensive defence around a single-"

He suddenly stopped and went wide-eyed as if he had seen something shocking.

"What is it?" she asked him.

Before Wally could answer, a large shaped came towards them. It was the Brute phantom.

"Watch out!" the Arbiter shouted, raising his weapon. "The phantom!"

Eve and the Arbiter ran from the side of the platform, their weapons raised at the Brute craft. Wally, however, just continued to hover in mid-air, staring wide-eyed at the hologram of the Ark as if he were in a kind of trance.

"Wally! Move!" eve shouted to him, snapping him out of his trance.

Wally hovered away from the hologram as it disappeared towards Eve and the Arbiter. He touched down on the floor next to them.

"We must get past that barrier!" he said. "Or the Meddler will destroy it all!"

The phantom's three large cannons aimed towards the group. Eve and the Arbiter fired on them, but their bullets and carbine shots would do little against the armour of the craft.

All of a sudden, the phantom reared back away from the three. A smaller shape shot towards them. A banshee! The Arbiter ran from Eve and Wally, hoping to draw the craft's attention. He did.

_"Eve!"_ came John's voice from her ear radio. _"You got a whole mess of hostile air inbound! Get back inside while we take 'em out!"_

Eve nodded but looked helplessly at the Arbiter, who was firing on the banshee, which just flew on towards It's enemy. She could not leave him here! She needed to help him! The Arbiter saw her.

"Evelyn, follow the Oracle," he said to Eve.

Before she could reply, the Arbiter jumped up at the banshee as it turned to fly over the edge of the platform, grabbing hold of the side. He pulled himself over to the back of the craft and grabbed the legs of a Brute flying the vehicle. With all his strength, he pulled the creature out from the cog pit, throwing the Brute over the platform's edge. The Brute screamed as it fell but they quickly faded away.

_"I will help your sergeant clear the sky,"_ the Arbiter said to Eve through her ear radio. _"Now go!"_

Eve watched as the banshee flew out past the platform towards the waterfall. The Covenant phantom turned and flew off right, the Arbiter in hot pursuit. She just prayed the Arbiter would live.

Eve turned and ran back towards the door; Wally followed. The door opened as they approached it. The two ran back into the silver corridor and ran to the end, causing the door there to open automatically. However, just as they reached it, a marine, who was going to get them, stood in the doorway.

"Ah!" he yelled, falling over.

"Sorry," Eve said to the marine, helping him up.

"It's alright," he replied. "I'm glad you're here. The pelican's gonna land in the level below us,"

Eve nodded.

"Alright, let's go," she said.

Eve ran path the marine towards the right door on the wall ahead of her. Wally and the rest of the marines followed. The door opened as they approached it, revealing a kind of glass pathway in a large tunnel. Glass walls went around the left sides of the pathway. Looking through them, Eve could see the outside of the tunnel corridor they ran through to get up to this level. The pathway went around the sides, going down at 220 degree angles with each turn. About thirty feet below them, on the same wall, was another door that, hopefully, led onto the platform the pelicans were going to pick them up on.

Eve ran down the pathway to the door at the bottom. The squad followed. When they reached the door at the bottom, it opened automatically. The squad ran through into a large square shaped room with a large pillar in the middle of the room. Along the walls, about ten feet up from the floor was a glass pathway. Glass walls were placed over most of the sides of the pathways. On the opposite wall, where the pathway ended, were two slopes coming off the sides of the pathways and going down to the floor. On the middle of the back wall of the room was another door. Hopefully, it led to the platform where they would be picked up.

The squad ran right down the pathway and turned into the next part that went along the right wall of the room. However, they quickly stopped when they saw a large figure standing on the floor below them. It was a Brute. What was worse, he was wearing dark red armour and had a gravity hammer attached to the back of his armour. The creature must have been expecting them because as soon as they stopped, it growled at them.

"The pack will feast on all of you!" he shouted at them. "Especially you, demon!"

The Brute then turned and ran towards the door on the back wall. It opened as he approached it. The Brute ran through the doorway and it closed behind him.

"There's just one of these freaks left to stop us?" one of the marines said, sounding slightly surprised. "Man, the Covenant are more stupid than they loo-"

"SURPRISE!"

Suddenly, a large figure appeared further down the pathway ahead of the squad. It was a Brute wearing teal green armour. He was wielding a spiker. Before the squad could react, he fired a barrage of spikes at them. One of the marines was hit and fell to the floor, dead. The rest of the squad dived for cover. The Brute laughed at how easy it was to easily scatter them.

As Eve stood up, she raised her battle rifle to fire on the Brute. Huh? Where was he? He was there just a second ago. He could not have fled underneath the pathway because he would not be quick enough to escape their gaze. He could not have just disappeared into thin air.

Unless… Oh no!

"Be careful!" Eve warned as the rest of the squad got up. "They've got camouflaged armour,"

"Oh, as if it isn't bad enough!" one of the marines replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, a barrage of light blue blasts flew at them from the left side of the pathway they arrived on. Eve looked and saw there was no one there. There must be at least two of them. If there were anymore, then they were dead.

Then, an idea popped into her head.

Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a barrage of bullets down the pathway head of her, moving her weapon both left and right to spread them further. It was when she turned them right one of them hit something. A drop of purple blood appeared and fell to the floor. That was where one of them was.

"Fire near that drop of blood," she ordered.

The squad, apart from Wally, fired around the drop of blood. More appeared out of thin air and fell to the floor. Loud grunts of pain filed the air. Finally, the outline of a figure became visible. It was the Brute. The barrage had cut through his armour and embedded themselves all over the inside of his body. The Brute looked at the squad and let out a weak groan and fell to the floor, dead.

"One down, hopefully, one to go," one of the marines said.

The squad aimed their weapon down the other pathway and fired a barrage down there. Very quickly, the bullets found their target. The squad fired on the Brute, disabling his armour, making him fully visible. The creature roared loudly as he fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"Alright, let's move on," Eve said.

The squad ran to the end of the pathway and down the slope to the floor. The door on the wall opened as they approached it, revealing a pathway with circular pillars going along the side of the pathway. The pathway was about fifteen feet long. The end was a slope that led down to a large circular platform with a glass floor in the shape of a circle in the middle of the platform. In the middle of the platform was a Covenant pillar with a hologram of Truth hovering above it. Standing in the middle of the platform was the Brute with dark red armour.

"Come and face me, demon!" the Brute shouted at her.

The squad ran to the end of the pathway, coming to a halt at the top of the slope. "Stay here," Eve said to the squad.

"What!" one of the marines exclaimed. "Eve, you cannot face him alone!"

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "I'll be okay,"

Before anyone else could stop here, Eve jumped down from the top of the slope to the platform, which was about a ten foot drop. She walked over to the middle of the platform, her feet pounding loudly on the glass floor. The Brute reached into his back and took out something and tossed it to Eve. She caught it. It was an energy sword activator.

"Let us fight in a duel instead of using guns!" the Brute said to Eve, taking out his gravity hammer.

Eve nodded and threw her battle rifle to the floor and activated the energy sword. The two readied themselves for the coming fight. In this duel, only one of them would come out alive. Both were going to do whatever it takes to make sure they were the victors.

It was the Brute who struck first.

The creature charged towards Eve and swung his gravity hammer at her. Eve dived awy from the creature as she felt the air explode behind her. As she stood up, the Brute charged towards her for another strike. She dived again, narrowly avoiding the Brute's second strike.

"Haha!" The Brute laughed at Eve. "You will have to do better than this, demon!"

Oh don't worry, I will. Eve thought as she stood up.

The Brute charged towards her for another strike. It was then Eve made her move.

As the creature swung his gravity hammer towards her, Eve dived again, but this time it was towards the Brute. She narrowly missed hitting his leg as she went past him. Before the Brute could react, she swung her energy sword at the creature, easily breaking through his armour's shield and cutting into his leg. The Brute roared in pain and almost collapsed as he fell to the floor. The marines cheered. She was this much closer to winning.

Suddenly, the Brute swung his arm at Eve, slamming into her legs. She fell to the floor, hitting her head hard on the glass floor. The Brute stood up, wincing slightly because of the pain on his leg, and kicked away Eve's energy sword from her hand. He raised his gravity hammer.

"You are a worthy opponent, demon," he said. "But even you are no match for me,"

Eve had to do something, or she would be blown apart and killed instantly. There had to be a way to take down this Brute, or at least stun him so she could flee. The Brute was standing to the side of her. Maybe she could find a weak spot to hit him in.

The Brute was about to bring his gravity hammer down when Eve brought back her leg and swung it at the Brute's lightly armoured stomach. The creature gasped for breath and staggered backwards. Eve quickly stood up and ran from the Brute. However, he recovered quicker than Eve had anticipated and chased after her, his gravity hammer at the ready.

"You must win this fight!" Truth's hologram said to the Brute. "Failure will bring a fate worse than death - abandonment, as we speed forward on the Great Journey!"

Eve ran over to the hologram and dived behind it. At the same time, the Brute swung his gravity hammer towards her. The weapon struck the side of the pillar. An electrical explosion filled the air as the remains of the pillar were thrown through the air and over the edge of the platform to join the water in the endless fall. Eve was unharmed, the pillar having provided as a shield for her.

"How dare you!" the Brute shouted.

Eve quickly ran from the Brute as he swung his gravity hammer at her again. She ran over to her energy sword activator and grabbed it. As she re-activated her weapon, the Brute charged towards her and swung his weapon at her. Eve dived out of the way and, when she stood up, swung her energy sword at the Brute. However, he saw it coming and placed his hand as the end and used the middle of the hammer to block Eve's attack. The energy sword slammed against the middle of the gravity hammer but did not go through it. She pushed harder to knock the weapon out of his hands, but the Brute was also fighting to force her to the floor.

"Come on, Eve!" one of the marines shouted to her. "Kick that bear faced freak's ass!"

The marines cheering gave Eve the thought of not to give up, but it was getting harder and harder to match the Brute's strength. He was tiring her out. If he kept this up much longer, he could easily push her aside and finish her off completely.

However, the Brute was not going to waste any more time. He wanted this to end quickly, and he was going to do it the very easy way. By cheating.

The Brute took out a spiker and swung it up at Eve, striking her in the stomach. Eve was thrown to the floor a few feet from the edge of the platform's glass floor.

"You bastard!" she shouted at the Brute. "You cheated!"

"We fight dirty, demon!" the Brute said to her. "That is something you need to learn. No one fights fairly, even if they are!"

The Brute brought up his spiker to fire on Eve. She would killed easily! There was no way she was going to win!

Then, she had an idea. It had a very small chance of succeeding, but it was better than nothing.

Just as the Brute was about to fire, Eve brought back her energy sword and swung it at the creature, striking so quickly that he barely had any time to react. The weapon easily broke through his shield and cut into his shoulder and upper arm, also striking the top of his gravity hammer and knocking it clean out of his hand. The Brute roared in pain and threw his spiker to the floor and placed a hand on his shoulder. Eve saw her chance and scrambled over to her battle rifle. She stood up and aimed it at the creature. The Brute went wide-eyed when he saw her with her gun pointed at him.

"You cheated!" he gasped.

"Like you said, nobody fights fairly," Eve replied.

She fired a barrage of bullets at the floor around the Brute. Loud cracking sounds followed. The Brute gasped as he looked down at the glass and saw large cracks beginning to appear. Eve dived off the platform.

Suddenly, with an almighty crash, the glass broke. The Brute roared in panic as he fell towards… Well, whatever would, or might, be at the bottom. His roars quickly faded away and all was quiet again.

The marines cheered and clapped.

"Nice one, Eve!" one of them exclaimed.

"Nobody messes with you!" another shouted.

The squad ran down the slope to the platform. Eve smiled as she stood up.

_"ETA: dam quick!"_ came John's voice from her ear radio. _"Standby for pickup!" _

A second later, a large shaped hovered down towards the edge of the platform. It was a pelican. The resting area was facing the platform. The doors opened. The squad ran over to the back of the pelican and climbed on-board. Eve was about to climb on-board when she noticed something. Her eyes went wide with fright.

"Commander!" Eve shouted, raising her weapon past the pelican out at the waterfall.

The pelican in front of Eve hovered right slightly, giving her a clear view of what frightened her.

There were sentinels. Hundreds of them! They all seemed to be rising up from the waterfall. When they were about one hundred feet above the top of the waterfall, they zoomed off into the distance over the endless sea.

_"John! Look sharp!"_ came Mary's voice from Eve's ear radio.

Another pelican hovered in front of Eve, only this time the resting area was facing the waterfall. John was standing in the resting area with a deployable machine gun aimed directly at the sentinels.

"Don't worry. I got 'em!" John said.

"No! Do not shoot!" Wally shouted, hovering out from his pelican in front of John's. "They mean us no harm! Those units have a priority task!"

"Oh yeah?" John replied, not sounding so convinced. "And what might that be?" he asked.

"I cannot say… Not for sure." Wally replied. "But if you allow me to find a terminal closer to the Core-"

_"No, Oracle!"_ the Arbiter interrupted, which Eve heard through her ear radio. _"We must keep the liar Truth firmly in our sights."_

A sentinel hovered up from below the platform towards Eve. The front of it opened up and a blue laser fired out and hit Eve in the head. After a second or two, the sentinel closed It's front, turned and hovered off after the other sentinels.

"But what about your construct?" Wally asked. "His solution to the Flood? With more data, I-"

_"The Arbiter's right,"_ Mary interrupted Wally. _"We have priorities too. Until we kill Truth, stop the Rings from firing… Nothing else matters."_

The first pelican hovered back towards the platform. Eve stepped on-board. Wally sighed in defeat and hovered back on-board. The doors closed and the two pelicans flew off after the sentinels.

The first battle on the Ark was over. The second, and also the last, would quickly take It's place. The final battle against the Covenant would soon begin.


	11. Our war's last battle

**Four hours later**

The last few hours had been busy for the UNSC and the Elites. After finally discovering where Truth was on the Ark, they had rushed to get to him as quickly as they could. If they were too late, he would fire the Halo rings, and every being in the galaxy would die.

After landing back on the _Shadow of Intent_, Eve fell asleep in one of the pelicans. She was going to need the strength for the upcoming battle. It was about half an hour ago that one of the marines woke her up and told her to get ready as they were about to attack. After gathering their weapons and going over the layout of the area, the marines and Elites boarded their craft and were now just minutes from where Truth and the remaining Covenant were held up. A total of five pelicans, in an arrow-like formation, were heading towards Truth. Following behind them were two Elite phantoms.

Eve, who was in the leading pelican, looked out through the resting area's open door, past the warthog, which had a machine gun turret, that was attached to the back of the craft. They were flying over a large sea which had several large islands scattered across It's surface. The water was a crystal blue colour, which really made It's beauty stand out. The islands had small hills or groups of trees scattered across them. Eve sighed at the beauty of this entire place. It reminded her of the Jura region on Reach. She used to go there before…

Eve sighed again. Jura was a large park, which had been recognized as one of the most beautiful in the second sol, where her and her friends would meet, but, obviously, that was before the war began, before the planet was destroyed. So many had been killed. Two entire organizations, the ER and the taskforce, had been destroyed completely on Reach. Eve was the last taskforce member. She still thought to herself; why? Why had she lived but all of her friends had died?

Because they needed her! The UNSC have always needed her in the past and needed her now. If she did not help in killing Truth, then billions of other beings in the galaxy would perish like the many Humans who had died in the war so far. Eve was not going to let that happen. She had lost all her friends, but this time the Covenant were not going to inflict another heavy blow against her, especially Truth. Even though she never usually hated anyone or any other being in the galaxy, this time it was personal. Her, Truth and a gun, and she was going to make sure Truth paid for what he had done to Humanity and to those he had betrayed in the Covenant and left for dead.

"_We hit these three generators, and the barrier will fall?" _came Mary's voice from her ear radio, snapping Eve out her thoughts.

"_A small section, yes," _came Wally's voice.

The pelicans flew on towards a large cliff that was on the largest island on this part of the Ark. There was about a thirty to fifty landing beach at the bottom of the cliff. Scattered across the beach were large boulders and several groups of trees, all of which were perfect for setting us beach defences. Several canyons went into the cliff. Over the top of the cliffs a few tall spire-like towers wee just visible. A blue laser was shooting out of the top of them, which formed some kind of light blue haze the crews of the pelicans and phantoms could just about see, no doubt that was the barrier Truth had activated to keep his enemies out.

As the seven vehicles flew towards the cliff line, light green explosions became visible in the air in front of them. That was ground fire from anti-air wraiths placed along the beach. Scattered in the air above the cliffs and near the end structures were large groups of UNSC hornets and Covenant banshees engaged in dogfights. They had been sent in earlier to do whatever they could against the Covenant air defences so the pelicans and phantoms could land on the island.

A Grunt patrolling along the surface of a large rock heard the whirring sounds of the approaching craft. It turned and yelped loudly as they flew overhead.

"_Good enough," _Mary said as Eve stood up and the marines in her pelican loaded their weapons for the coming fight. _"Johnson, drop Eve and the first platoon at the first generator then join in the attack on the third," _Mary ordered. _"The Arbiter and the Elites will punch right down the centre to the second,"_

"Roger that," came John's voice from the pelican's cog pit.

The formation split up into three groups. Three of the pelicans turned left, heading straight for the third generator. The phantoms flew on forward, heading for the second. Eve's pelican and another turned right, heading for the first generator.

"Charlie Foxtrot!" Eve heard the pilot shout as green explosions erupted in the air around them. "Tower one approach has anti-air along the beach!"

As the craft flew over the beach, staying only just fifty to sixty feet above the beaches, Eve could see the many Covenant defences placed along the shore. More green explosions of anti-air plasma fire erupted all around them, some missing by far but others coming within a few feet of either of the two pelicans. Eve knew one of them would eventually hit their target.

It seemed she had spoken too soon. As they flew over a group of trees, one of the green blasts struck the side of the pelican behind them. The back of the craft descended towards the ground, throwing the pelican forward towards the one in front of it. CRASH! The front of the pelican smashed into the back of Eve's pelican. The craft rocked violently, almost throwing Eve out of the resting area. The warthog detached and fell to the ground, rolling down the side of a rock into the sea.

"_Mayday! Mayday!" _the pilot of the damaged pelican shouted, which Eve heard from her ear radio, as the craft turned sideways, heading straight for the ground. _"I can't control it! Hang o-"_

BOOM! The pelican crashed into the ground, driving deep into the dirt. Eve watched with horror. The Covenant would be attacking the craft quickly. They had to land and rescue any survivors quickly! Otherwise they would all be dead!

"Pelican down!" the pilot reported into his radio. "I repeat, we have a pelican down!"

John stuck his head out of the cog pit.

"Brace yourselves; we're going in a little hot!" he warned.

The pelican came to a halt over a small clearing between two boulders. The marines stood up, their weapons ready. Eve reached down to the side of the resting areas seats and picked up a large weapon she had never used before. It was much like an MA5B assault rifle and a battle rifle put together. However, there was a large red light glowing inside the weapon, which Eve could see through a small power meter on the side of the weapon. The bottom front of the weapon was much like the bottom of an SMG. This was a Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, W/AV M6 G/GNR for short, or was better known as the Spartan Laser.

Eve jumped off the pelican to the ground. The marines followed her. Almost instantly, they saw Covenant forces ahead of them.

"There they are! Kill them all!" a Brute wearing teal green armour shouted, pointing at the squad.

A group of smaller creatures ran towards them. Grunts. Four of them. They fired on the squad, who retaliated with their own gunfire. One of the marines fired on the Grunts, hitting and killing one of them. The Brute, armed with a Brute shot, growled and fired a shot at the marines, who dived for cover as the grenade exploded on the ground.

Eve had to help them, but this thing was quite heavy. She could leave it behind because they might need it to destroy the anti-air wraiths, but she could not fight while holding it in one hand.

"_Ma'am, this is kilo 23," _came the pilot's voice from Eve's ear radio. _"I lost my wingman and our only hog, over,"_

"Roger that, Hocus," came Mary's voice. _"Get out of there," _

"Eve, take this!" she heard John shout from behind her.

She turned to see John standing on the end of the pelican's resting area with a weapon's vest in his hand. He tossed it to Eve, which she caught and ran behind a nearby tree. John ran back into the cog pit as the pelican hovered into the air and flew off towards the third generator.

Eve strapped the vest on around her torso. The hole on the back was big enough for the laser to fit into. Eve placed the laser in the vest. It was quite heavy but she had lifted things much heavier than it. Now she needed a smaller weapon. The marines were still fighting the Covenant squad. Two of the Grunts were dead so their plasma pistols, which lay on the ground near their bodies, were a good choice but reaching them was not going to be easy. If one of the Brute shot grenades hit the laser on the back of her vest, the power core inside the weapon would blow up, no doubt killing her instantly. She had to find a way to get a weapon so she could help her marines fight.

She found it. There was a small gap between a fallen tree and the boulder in front of her, which carried on until it stopped next to the Covenant squad. Next to the Brute. It was perfect. Eve could kill him easily and then the rest of the squad would no doubt flee towards any other defences the Covenant had set up.

Eve ran behind the boulder and waited for a second, just in case any of the Covenant had spotted her. The fighting was still going on as usual so she was safe, as long as no more Covenant arrived and saw her on what she was about to do.

Eve ran towards the end of the boulder. When she reached the end, she took out the laser and placed it on her shoulder. The laser was much different from other UNSC weapons. Instead of firing as soon as the trigger was pulled, the weapon had to be charged, which was done by holding down the trigger for several seconds, before it could fire. However, the one to two second wait would be more than worth it. The weapon would fire a laser that could easily devastate the armour on a wraith with just one shot. Infantry and turret emplacements were also no match, as were small vehicles. This was the first time Eve had ever used a Spartan laser before so she was in for a big surprise when she would see the power of the laser.

Eve stepped out from behind the side of the boulder. The Brute and remaining Grunts were about four metres ahead of her near the squad. None of them were aware their worst enemy was directly behind them. They were easy targets. Eve aimed the laser at the Brute and pushed down on the trigger. A red line on a small power meter came out of the right end and quickly moved towards the left end. A loud charging sound filled the air as the laser's power increased rapidly. A beep emitted from the side of the weapon. Eve released her grip on the trigger.

It all happened to quickly for Eve to fully access. A large red light had filled the air for a millisecond before fading, followed by a loud scream. Eve looked and saw the Brute fall backwards onto the floor, dead.

"AH! Leader dead!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed. "Run away!"

The two remaining Grunts turned and ran past Eve towards a gap between another large boulder and the sea. The marines fired on them, hitting and killing one of them. The last Grunt was much luckier than It's comrade and it ran past the boulder and disappeared from sight.

"C'mon, we got 'em on the run!" one of the marines shouted as they ran past Eve after the Grunt.

Eve, after placing the laser back in her weapon's vest, ran over to the third Grunt killed and picked up It's plasma pistol. She could now help her fellow comrades fight. She ran after the marines. As she passed the boulder, she came to a halt near a fallen tree trunk. The marines were taking cover behind it. Eve only had to look ahead to see why.

About twelve feet ahead was a small river that ran from the cliff to the sea. Lying in the middle of the river was the body of the fleeing Grunt, who had been killed by the marines when they reached the tree trunk. On the other side of the river was a large boulder with a flat surfaced top. A small path, about half-way down the boulder, led down to the ground. On the boulder's top was a large circular platform on the ground. Hovering several inches above the circular platform was a large gold sphere with three large openings on the side and back and two large silos sticking out of the front of the sphere. It was a Covenant shade turret. Along the side of the boulder were several smaller boulders. Behind them or standing next to them were more Covenant forces. Leading them was a Brute wearing gold armour and a gold helmet. Eve could also see several Jackals and Grunts hiding behind the boulders and several trees at the right side of the boulder near the cliff. They must have hit the main defence line on the beach. It was here the Covenant were going to make their stand and fight to the death.

"The demon! Kill her!" the Brute shouted, pointing at Eve.

She dived forward behind the fallen tree trunk, narrowly missing a few orange spikes that flew out from the boulder and hit the ground where she had been standing just a millisecond earlier.

"These guys really don't want us here," one of the marines grunted.

"We need to break through their defence line," another piped up as part of the tree trunk behind Eve's shoulder was ripped apart by a blast from the shade turret. "The crashed pelican's on the other side of the boulder."

Eve's eyes went wide. The pelican was on the other side of the boulder? Oh no! The Covenant were probably descending on the craft and killing everyone there! Now it was a race against time to get to the pelican and rescue any survivors before it was too late. Question was; how?

Eve looked up from behind the tree trunk; only to duck down again as another blast struck the side of the tree trunk, ripping off a huge chunk of bark off of it. That turret and the Brute were the only things keeping them there, but even if she killed both with the laser, there was a chance the Jackals and possibly even the Grunts would still stand and fight to hold back their advance so using the laser would be as effective as it had been just moments earlier.

_To Hell with it! _Eve thought frustratingly as she placed her plasma pistol on the ground and took the laser out of the vest.

Even though there was a very strong chance it would not be as effective, there was no other way to break the Covenant defences. They had to break through now. Marines and pelican pilots' lives were at risk and they were the only ones who were close enough to save them.

Eve placed the laser on her shoulder, turned and aimed the weapon at the shade turret. The enormous Covenant turret turned left and right several times to find a target to strike at. The Brute and other Covenant, however, were aware of what Eve was doing and aimed their weapons at her. She had to strike quickly! Eve pressed down on the laser's trigger. The power meter rose. The charging sound grew louder. The weapon was ready to fire.

Eve let go of the laser's trigger. Another blinding red light filled the air, followed by an explosion and a loud crash. The Covenant squad dived for cover as the shade turret's sphere broke in two and rolled down the side of the boulder to the ground. The Grunt that had been piloting the turret was killed instantly.

"AAAHH!" Eve heard one of the Grunt's scream. "The demon has a laser! Run for your lives!"

"You stay where you are, you whelp!" the Brute's voice shouted. "If you try and flee again, I will kill you!"

Although the Brute's threatening words were enough to keep one Grunt at the front, it was not enough for the rest of them, who had turned and ran for their lives from the boulder. The Brute growled and shot, filled with rage. These soldiers were abandoning their position! They must be killed!

However, his rage in stopping anyone from leaving the battle was a big mistake. Because he had stood up, he was now completely exposed to Eve and her laser. She pressed down on the trigger. The level in the power meter rose quickly. When it hit the end, Eve let go of the trigger.

Another loud roar filled the air as the Brute was thrown forward onto the ground, dead. That was enough for the remaining Covenant. One of the Jackals screeched. The squad saw the vulture-like creature stand up, turn and run off behind the top of the boulder with It's shield over the side of It's as if it would protect it.

"C'mon, we got 'em on the run!" one of the marines shouted.

The squad climbed over the fallen tree trunk and ran across the river and up the small path to the top of the boulder. It was there they saw that the boulder they were on had been buried several metres into the earth as the back of it had a smooth surface and led onto flat ground next to the beach. However, they also the remains of the crashed pelican.

The craft had driven several metres into the earth a few feet from the bottom of the cliff, creating a small mound of dirt and covering part of the cog pit, which had It's windows smashed. The wings were bent and the rear engines of the craft were twisted and broken. The body of a pilot was lying dead on the mound in front of the cog pit. There was no telling if any other marines were still alive.

BOOM! The squad looked over towards a line of large boulders, numbering three, about fifteen feet ahead of them near the left side of the boulder they were standing on. A large green blast shot out from behind it up into the air at a passing hornet. The blast missed, but only by a few inches. No sooner than a second passed before a large craft hovered out from behind the boulders. It was the anti-air wraith.

"We need to blow that thing to kingdom come," one of the marines said.

A loud screech caught their attention. The squad looked back at the boulders to see the rest of the Covenant squad hiding behind the boulders. One of the Jackals rolled sideways out from behind the boulder and fired a charged shot at the squad. They dived to the ground. The blast zoomed over their heads and hit the cliff.

"Get to cover!" Eve ordered.

The squad ran towards the nearby crashed pelican. The Covenant fired on them. One of the blasts narrowly missed the head of one of the marines and hit the cliff. Eve skidded to a halt and, after realising she had left her plasma pistol back behind the fallen tree, aimed her laser at the Covenant squad. She pushed down on the trigger. The level in the power meter rose quickly. When it hit the top, she let go. Another red light filled the air, followed by a loud whooshing electrical sound as the laser flew towards the Covenant squad. One of the Jackals was hit and fell to the ground, dead. One of the other Jackals ran out from behind the boulder towards the anti-air wraith, hoping to find cover. The marines fired on the creature, hitting and killing it.

The squad reached the crashed pelican. They climbed in through the smashed windows. Eve was the last inside the craft. The cog pit was just as destroyed as the rest of the craft. The remains of the seats were lying in piles on the floor, having been torn apart in the crash, and the control panel had a large gaping hole along the front. The body of the other pilot lay in a position that made the squad shudder. It was best not to describe it.

Putting the image out of their minds, the squad ran through the open doorway into the resting area of the pelican. Three more marines were lying dead on the floor, all having been killed on impact in the crash.

"I'll go check and see if they're still there," one of the marines whispered to the squad.

The marines ran to the end of the resting area and looked out. Almost immediately, a barrage of blasts struck him the chest and face. Blood flowed from a wound on the cheek and from another above the marine's eyes. The marine fell out of the craft onto the ground, dead.

"Damn it!" one of the marines growled as he knelt down and moved near the end of the resting area. "They know how we're gonna get out of this thing!"

Eve looked at the resting area's entrance and then back at the body of the fallen marine outside. The Covenant had their weapons trained on that part of the pelican. The anti-air wraith was in view but even if they destroyed it, the Covenant squad would still have them pinned down. There had to be another way past them! There just had to be!

Then it struck her. Of course.

_Thank God for basic military training _Eve thought, relieved.

One thing she had learned during the training on Reach was that when you see an enemy and he/they are behind cover, the best thing to do is to pin them down with a hail of gunfire and then, if you have anyone else with you, try and find a way to flank them. The only problem was that the Covenant had part of the boulder to protect them from any flank attacks but, hopefully, the barrage that would pin them down would stop them from trying to flee once the flanking team was outside the pelican.

"Guys," Eve said, drawing the squad's attention. "We need to split up into two groups. One needs to go at the cog pit and fire on them and then the other charges out and fires on them from the sides. It'll kill them,"

"We just need to hope they don't kill us," one of the marines replied, looking at the dead marine on the ground outside the resting area.

"We'll be fine," Eve reassured the marine. "We just need to be quick. I'll give the signal. Now, who's going where?" she asked the squad.

Two of the marines quickly ran to the cog pit. The rest stayed where they were. Wow, that was quick! Eve joined the other two marines at the resting area and waited for the other two in the cog pit to get ready. They had to be quick in this. Otherwise, they would all be killed.

"Okay, Eve," one of the marines whispered from the cog pit. "We're ready,"

"Roger that," Eve replied with a nod. "One… Two… THREE!"

For the next few seconds, a barrage of gunfire filled the air, followed by the screeches and screams of dying Grunts and Jackals. The firing of the Spartan laser silenced the barrage with a blinding red light. The marines lowered their weapons, the two at the cog pit ran over to Eve and the other two, and looked at the bodies in front of them.

All of the Jackals were dead. Nearby were the bodies of the Grunts. One of them had been hit by the laser Eve had fired. The triangle piece had been blown off the creature's back completely. The remains were lying just a few feet away next to the body of another Grunt that had been killed with a burst of ammo to the face.

"Alright, now we just have that wraith to deal with," one of the marines said, looking over at the wraith, which was moving about with It's cannons aimed up at the sky for any easy target.

"I'll deal wit it," Eve piped up.

She aimed her laser at the vehicle and pressed down on the trigger. The level in the power meter rose quickly. When it hit the end, Eve let go of the trigger. Another blinding red light filled the air as a laser shot towards the vehicle.

BOOM! The wraith was hit and exploded into a fireball. The back of the craft was blown off completely. Another explosion tore off a large chunk of armour on the front of the vehicle. The body of the Brute driving the vehicle was thrown several feet into the air and landed with a splash into the sea.

Eve lowered her weapon and placed a finger on the radio in her ear. 

"Commander," she said. "The beach head is secure. The AA wraith's been destroyed,"

_"Roger that, Eve," _Mary replied. _"Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment,"_

As soon as Mary stopped speaking, a large shape moved towards the cliff in the sky. The squad looked to see the _Shadow of Intent _flying towards the island. It came to a halt about one, maybe two miles away.

"_I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum!" _came Vadumee's voice. _"By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy!"_

When Vadumee stopped speaking, a barrage of large purple blasts shot out from the craft and hit the enormous shield that towered over the entire area. Loud beeping/droning sounds filled the air as each blast struck the shield, making the impact point shift and move like ripples on the surface of water. None of the blasts broke through the shield but at least it would divert any Covenant troops to the impact points and also remind Truth that the UNSC and the Elites were on his doorstep.

"Look sharp, we got pelican," one of the marines said, pointing ahead of them into the air.

The squad looked and saw a pelican flying towards them. As it approached the beach, it descended towards the ground until it was about ten feet above the island's surface. The pelican turned so the resting area, and a warthog with a machine gun turret, was facing the squad. The large metal pincers opened up and the warthog fell to the ground with a loud crash. The pelican then hovered left a few feet and a pair of headlights in the resting area turned on. A small vehicle drove out of the resting area onto the ground. A mongoose. A marine was sitting on the driver's seat.

"Thought you guys could use these to break through any defences," he said as he got off the mongoose. "Good luck," he added before running back over to the pelican and climbing into the resting area.

The pelican hovered into the air and flew off towards the _Shadow of Intent_. Within a few seconds, it had become a dot and disappeared from sight.

"Alright, let's move out," Eve said.

She took off her weapon's vest and passed her laser to one of the marines. She then ran over to the warthog and climbed into the driver's seat. Another two marines ran over to the vehicle. One climbed on the turret and the other into the passenger seat. The last two marines, one of them had the laser, ran over to the mongoose and climbed onboard, the one with the laser sitting on the back of the mongoose.

Eve started the warthog. The engine sprang to life, humming loudly. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator and turned the vehicle right and drove forward towards the entrance to a large canyon in the side of the cliff. The ground there was covered with grass, trees, some of them fallen, and large boulders. It was the worst place for them to be ambushed, but they had no choice. They had to go through to disable the shield. The mongoose followed the warthog.

"_Wally believes that Truth could activate the Rings at any time," _Mary said from Eve's ear radio. _"If he does, Earth… Every being in the galaxy. Halo will kill them all," _

Eve took in Mary's words with ease, but she was scared. This was a race against time. They had to get through the barrier and stop Truth before he activated the Rings. However, she was stuck with the question; What if they were too late? What if they got to Truth but he had already activated the Rings? If that happened, everyone on Earth. Every being in the galaxy would die.

No! that was not going to happen. It was _not_! They _were_ going to stop Truth, they _were_ going to stop the Rings from being activated and, most important of all, they _were_ going to kill him and bring this war to an end! Eve kept repeating those words in her mind as she drove on towards the canyon's entrance.

When the two vehicles reached the entrance to the canyon, Eve slowed her warthog so it was now going only around ten miles an hour. The mongoose did the same. The crews were aware of the threat of an ambush in such a thin area. They knew the Covenant would have forces deployed in this canyon to defend the way to the tower. They might even have one set up just a few hundred feet in front of them so they had to be extra vigilant if they were to get through without being taken by surprise.

As the two vehicles drove down the canyon, a large boulder, about one hundred feet ahead, became visible amongst several trees. The top of the cliffs forming the canyon almost joined together, blocking out much of the light from the sun, so it was difficult to make out who, or what was on the boulder. However, Eve did manage to see the spherical shape of a shade turret on the front of the boulder, It's two large silos pointing through a gap in the trees. Whether there were any Covenant, or even how many there were, was unknown.

"Get ready," she whispered to the squad. "We'll be in for a fight."

The squad obeyed. Eve drove the warthog down the canyon towards the boulder. The mongoose followed them. As the approached, the turret suddenly sprung to life and fired a barrage of blasts at the UNSC vehicles. Eve swerved the vehicle right and left several times, still going forward, to avoid getting hit. The marine on the warthog's turret fired a barrage at the turret. However, the armour protected the Covenant soldier piloting the turret. They were going to need something more powerful to destroy the turret.

The marine on the back of the mongoose aimed his laser at the turret and pressed down on the trigger. The level in the weapon's power meter rose rapidly. When it hit the end, the marine let go of the trigger. A red light lit up the entire canyon as another laser fired towards the shade turret. The weapon was hit and blown off the circular platform on the ground into the air. A loud scream followed as a Grunt fell out of the turret to the ground. A loud crash followed a second later as the turret hit the ground a few metres from the back of the boulder.

That was it. The way was clear and they could continue on.

"Stay alert!" one of the marines ordered. "This won't be the first Covenant emplacement we run into,"

Eve drove the warthog forward past the boulder and further into the canyon. The mongoose followed close behind. The marines with weapons in the two vehicles kept their fingers on the triggers. If anymore Covenant attacked them, they could kill them before they caused any more deaths.

Then, Eve saw a ray of sunlight ahead of them. It was among a group of trees that stood around twenty to thirty feet high. She could also see that the sunlight was in fact hitting some kind of rock pathway that went along the right cliff that formed the canyon. The left faced a large gap. What was in that gap she did not know, but would quickly find out.

Eve drove the warthog on. The mongoose right behind them. When they reached the pathway, they found themselves overlooking an enormous deep bowl shaped area with the rock pathway going into a curve about forty feet ahead of them to the ground. About half-way down the pathway, a small river came out of the cliff and formed a small waterfall that flowed down into a small lake. The rest of the open area was covered with large boulders and trees. However, what really caught the squad's eye was an enormous structure built into the side of the bowl's wall ahead of them.

It was a large rectangular section supported on three huge arrow shaped legs, one on each side and one on the front. Sticking out of the top of the rectangular section was a half triangle section that stuck about ten feet over the edge of the end of the rectangular section. A small hill was below the rectangular section. The squad could see a small doorway at the front of the mound. They could also see the metal floor and walls inside the mound. The entire structure was a dark blue colour. Some parts of it had Forerunner markings engraved into it. Sticking out of the top of the cliff the structure was built into was a tall beam rifle shaped tower with two large triangle pieces on the sides of the tower. Firing out of the top of the tower was the light blue beam that formed the barrier. This was it. This was where the generator was.

"Look!" the marine on the warthog's turret whispered, pointing ahead towards the small opening in the mound below the structure.

Eve looked and saw a large figure walk out from the opening. It was a Brute with teal green armour. A few smaller figures with shields moved about among a few boulders, one of which had another shade turret on the top of it, about twenty feet from the opening. Jackals. A large vehicle was in the middle of the open area. A wraith, this time it was a normal one, and if this was not bad enough, three smaller vehicles were parked near one of the legs that came off the rectangular structure. Ghosts.

"Man, the Covenant have really prepared their defences this time," one of the marines muttered.

Eve replied with a nod and looked back at the Covenant forces scattered around the area. They would put up a formidable defence in order to stop them so it was not going to be easy breaking into this structure. Then again, a fight with the Covenant never was easy.

The Brute with teal green armour stopped where he was scanned the area. He was bored. He had nothing to do. Even though this was to protect his holy leader, he still hoped there should be something worth doing this instead of standing around guarding a structure that the Humans and Elites had very little chance of breaking into. They had probably been driven off on the beach, so why was he still here? Oh well. At least the Journey would begin soon. That was at least something worthwhile here.

As his eyes moved across the pathway, they rested on two shapes with figures on them. He looked closer. They… They looked like… HUMANS!

"The enemy is on the pathway!" the brute shouted, pointing up at the squad.

Before Eve or the squad could react, a barrage of blasts flew towards them. Eve slammed her foot on the accelerator and the warthog shot forward like a bullet. The marine driving the mongoose shifted the vehicle's gear into reverse.

"Looks like they don't want to welcome us with open arms!" the marine in the warthog's passenger seat said.

"Does you mean open arms to be friends, or open arms to crush and kill us?" Eve asked the marine.

BOOM! An explosion threw up a cloud of dirt behind them. It was a mortar blast, coming from one thing the squad knew very well. The wraith.

The marine on the warthog's turret aimed the weapon at the wraith and fired a barrage of bullets at them. They hit the vehicle but It's thick armour protected it and prevented any hope of blowing it sky high. The wraith fired another mortar blast at the warthog, which exploded on the ground a few feet behind them as they were about half-way down the curved pathway. That was twice they had missed, but the wraith would hit them eventually.

"Look out! Ghost!" the marine in the passenger seat shouted, pointing ahead.

Eve looked and saw he was right. A ghost, being piloted by a Grunt, was across the ground, heading straight towards them at full speed. She swerved the vehicle left off of the pathway's side. The vehicle almost tipped over but was saved from a head on collision. The ghost zoomed up the pathway. The marine on the back of the mongoose, which had began following the warthog again, aimed his weapon at the ghost and fired another laser at the Covenant vehicle.

BOOM! The ghost exploded in a fireball as it was hit. The Grunt driving the vehicle was thrown into the air. It landed on the ground next to the remains of It's vehicle. The mongoose sped past the remains to join their comrades, who were swerving around the wraith to avoid being blown apart.

After a few minutes, Eve drove the warthog away from the wraith towards the structure. The wraith hovered after the warthog, hoping to destroy it. Eve, however, was leading the warthog into a trap. Whilst she and her marines had been focused in avoiding the wraith's deadly mortar blasts, another Grunt had climbed onto the shade turret and had the vehicle directly in It's sights. All it needed now was for the warthog to come closer and they would be dead. The Grunt giggled evilly and placed It's fingers on the turret's trigger. The warthog was now just twenty five feet away and still coming!

Eve looked out over the back of the warthog at the wraith, which had suddenly come to a halt? Why had it just stopped? They were coming to a dead end. It could easily kill them.

"Eve! Look out!" the marine on the turret shouted all of a sudden.

A blast struck the side of the warthog, rocking it and almost making it tip onto It's side. Another narrowly missed the rear of the vehicle. Eve looked at where the blasts were coming from and saw the shade turret aimed at them. She panicked and reversed the warthog away back towards the pathway. However, this was risky as well as they were heading straight for the wraith.

"Eve, are you crazy!" the marine on the turret shouted at her.

"Just shut up and fire on that wraith!" she shouted back.

The marine turned the turret towards the wraith and placed his fingers on the weapon's trigger. Even though he was willing to fight, the warthog turret was going to do little against the armour of a wraith.

BOOM! The wraith, suddenly, exploded in a fireball. The body of the Brute was launched into the air and landed with a loud thud on the ground nearby. The marine gasped in shock, as did Eve and the marine in the passenger seat. What the hell had just destroyed it?

Then, the roar of an engine filled the air. A small vehicle shot out from behind the right side of the wraith. The mongoose. The marine on the back of the vehicle gave them a thumb up. He then aimed the laser at the shade turret and fired. The turret exploded and fell to the ground in a loud crash. The grunt piloting the turret was killed instantly, It's body thrown to the ground next to the remains.

"Thought you guys might need some help," the marine said to the three in the warthog as the mongoose pulled up to them.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Okay, now we need to get inside and shut down the generator," she said.

Eve drove the warthog back towards the entrance in the mound. The mongoose followed close behind. However, when they reached the entrance, a barrage of blasts flew at them. The marines in the warthog's passenger seat was hit and fell out of the vehicle onto the ground, dead. Another blast struck Eve in the shoulder, causing her shield to light up. Eve looked and saw a group of Jackals with their shields raised in the corridor. They were forming a line with their shields so it would be hard to break through. Luckily, the squad had weapons that could easily break through the Jackal's shields.

The marine on the warthog's turret aimed the weapon at the Jackals and pressed down on the trigger. The machine gun chattered loudly as a barrage of bullets flew at them. Finally, one of the Jackals' shields gave way and deactivated, exposing the creature completely. The bullets hit it and the alien fell to the floor, dead. One of the other Jackals turned and tried to flee, but exposed his back, which was hit by three bullets that tore through the armour vest and embedded themselves inside the creature's body. The Jackal screeched loudly as it fell onto the floor and went quiet. The marine fired on the remaining Jackals, easily killing them.

"Alright, perimeter's secure," the marine on the back of the mongoose said as he and his comrade got off the vehicle. "Let's get inside and deactivate the shield,"

Eve and the marine on the warthog's turret climbed off out of the vehicle and ran with the other two marines into the entrance. The entrance was a short corridor with grey coloured walls, floor and ceiling. Several small curved pillars lined the walls. The end of the corridor turnd left. The squad ran to the end, Eve quickly stopping to pick up a plasma pistol from one of the dead Jackals, and turned left into another short corridor that led to a dead end wall. On the right wall ahead of them was a door that must have led further underground, or further into the mountain. There was no doubt the Covenant had more troops waiting for them.

"Stay alert," she said to the squad. "They'll be waiting for us,"

Eve raised her weapon and walked ahead of the squad towards the door. The squad followed close behind her. The door opened as she approached it. Eve walked through, her finger on her weapon's trigger, ready to fire. The squad followed her in.

They found themselves in a large room that had two large walls forming a short, but wide pathway to a large circular section in the middle of the room. At the end of the pathway was a tall arrow front-like shaped piece of glass engraved with Forerunner markings. Around the sides was a thick piece of metal to prevent the glass from being broken. In the middle of the room, in the middle of the circular section, were two large rectangular barriers placed vertically. They were spaced about ten feet from each other, leaving a gap that led into a light blue coloured floor that looked to be the bottom of a tunnel as a large circular gap was on the ceiling, leading up to… Well, God knows. A pathway stuck out from somewhere behind the right barrier. On it was a small control panel. Around the edges of the bottom of the tunnel were a few more barriers, all lined up along the walls, making the bottom of the tunnel look like a small structure within the room. A small pathway went around either side of the small structure. At the other end of the room, the squad could see another door.

"Do you think that thing on the end of the pathway's a lift?" one of the marines asked, pointing to the end of the pathway in the middle of the small structure.

"Looks like it," she replied. "We just need to be careful. The Covenant will be here,"

Eve, cautiously, walked to the end of the pathway. The squad followed her. Every few seconds, she would aim her plasma pistol left and right to fire on any Covenant that might try and launch a surprise attack on them. The marines were doing the same. None of the squad knew how many Covenant were here, or what types were here. They could have a huge pack of Brutes here for all they knew, or Hunters, or Drones. It made them panic.

When the squad reached the end of the pathway, Eve stopped them, moving her and the squad behind the glass so they could not be spotted as easily by any of the Covenant. One of the marines went to ask what was wrong but Eve stopped him by pointing ahead.

In the small structure, just below the pathway, was a Grunt. It was patrolling the room, Lumbering from one side to the other. A few more Grunts were dozing nearby. Then, another figure walked a few feet onto the pathway, coming into the squad's view. It was a Jackal with a shield. The creature scanned the middle section of the room with It's eyes for a few seconds before turning and walking back the way it had come, disappearing from view.

"I thought they'd have more Covenant here," one of the marines whispered.

As soon as the marine finished speaking, as if on cue, a large figure walked out from the doorway at the other end of the room and turned left into one of the small pathways. It was a Brute with teal green armour. Another teal green armoured Brute followed and walked down the other small pathway.

"Did you have to open your mouth?" one of the other marines asked the marine sarcastically.

"Sssh!" Eve hissed. "We need to find a way to surprise attack them," she whispered.

"How?" one of the marine asked her. "If they see us, they'll alert any other guards in this place and they'll probably even call for help."

"Which is why we need to be quick," Eve replied. "Alright, listen. I have an idea," she said, turning to the squad. "I'll go round the left pathway and take out the Brute there. You-" she pointed at the marine with the Spartan laser. "go down the other pathway and kill that Brute. The rest of you take cover behind the barriers. We'll give you a signal and we can attack the rest of the Covenant,"

"I hope this plan of yours works, Eve," one of the marines muttered.

"It will," she said. "Trust me," she added.

Eve turned and ran as quietly as she could to the left pathway that went around the small structure. Another marine ran to the right pathway. The other two quickly ran out from behind the glass and hid behind the barriers. They reloaded their weapons and one of them of them quickly stuck his head out from behind the barrier to see the Covenant forces still going about their normal duties here. They were easy targets, but the marines just had to hope this plan of Eve's worked. Otherwise, they were all dead.

Eve crept along the left pathway around the small structure. She took cover behind one of the pillars, that lined the walls of the room along the pathways, every few feet and waited for about one or two seconds. She had not reached the Brute yet, but she was going to come across him quickly. When she did, she had to kill him, or at least knock him out, quickly before he alerted the rest of the Covenant in the room, or in the structure.

It was when Eve was about half-way down the pathway that she saw her target. She dived behind one of the pillars and, when she stood up, rested her back against it, breathing heavily. The Brute was about ten feet ahead of her and was walking towards her, his spiker placed on his shoulder and looked up at the walls of the small structure. He suspected nothing. Eve gripped her plasma pistol tighter and waited for the creature to walk past her so she could hit him round the head. Closer and closer, the Brute came. Eve took a deep breath, never taking her eyes off the Brute.

The enormous figure of the Brute walked past her. Now was the chance. Eve stepped out from behind the pillar and raised her plasma pistol. She lowered a had and tapped the brute on the shoulder. The creature grunted in surprise and turned to se who it was that had just touched him.

WHAM! Eve brought the plasma pistol down onto the Brute's head as hard as she could. At the same time, she lashed out with her fist, hitting the Brute on the nose. The Brute let out a weak growl before he fell backwards onto the floor, out cold.

"Yes!" Eve silently exclaimed under her breath.

The Brute was out of the way. The only thing that needed to work now was that the marine on the right pathway had to kill or knock out the other Brute so they could carry out the next phase of her plan to get through this room.

Eve turned and ran down the pathway to the end. When she reached the door, she hid behind one of the barriers that formed another entrance like on the other end of the small structure. She quickly peeked her head out from behind the barrier and looked towards the other end of the structure. One of the marine was looking at her. She nodded at him, as if to say _Get ready_. The marine replied with a nod, _Okay_.

Eve looked at the other pathway. Where was the other marine? He could not have been spotted. Otherwise the Brute would have alerted the rest of the Covenant in the room. Was he on his way, or was he stuck in trying to carry out his part of the plan?

Eve sighed and quickly ran out from behind her barrier to the other. Luckily, the Covenant troops did not spot her, yet. Eve ran down into right pathway. As soon as she reached it, she ran into something hard and fell over on her bottom.

"What are you doi-" Eve hissed, but was quickly stopped.

Standing over her was a large figure. It was the other Brute. He grinned evilly at Eve and held up his hand. In it was the other marine. His neck was at an angle. Eve looked down between the Brute's legs and saw the Spartan laser lying on the floor, broken in two. The Brute threw the marine's body to the floor next to Eve. She stared with wide eyes at the body. The Brute had broken his neck! Now he was going to kill her!

"You will be my next kill, demon!" the Brute growled at her, kicking her weapon aside and grabbing her by the neck and lifting her up from the floor.

Eve gasped for breath. The Brute only chuckled and began to clutch down harder. She had not weapon so he could kill her slowly and painfully. He could even cut her open and let her bleed to death if wanted to. Any way would be good to him, just as long as she would die.

The two marines standing at the barriers began to get impatient. They had seen Eve just a minute ago and had not seen or heard nothing from her or the other marine. What was going on? Then, it hit them. What if the other Brute had stopped them, or worse, killed them?

"Keep an eye on 'em!" the marine hiding behind the right barrier whispered to the other marine, who nodded.

The marine turned and ran down the right pathway. When he was about half-way down it, he saw the large figure of the Brute at the other end. He was holding something in his hand. It… It was Eve!

"Let her go!" the marine shouted.

The Brute growled in alarm and looked over his shoulder to see the marine standing there. The marine raised his battle rifle and fired at the Brute. The bullets broke through the armour and embedded themselves in the creature's back and side. The Brute roared in pain and dropped Eve to place a hand over the wounds. Eve shot up, grabbed her plasma pistol and swung it at the Brute's head. The Brute let out a weak groan before he fell backwards onto the floor, dead. The final blow on the head having killed him.

"Are you alright?" the marine asked her as he ran up to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eve replied. "Thanks," she added.

"AAAAHH! Demon! Run away!" a high pitched on the other side of the wall to their right voice screamed.

Eve and the marine looked at the door on the wall behind them to see the pack of four Grunts run towards it. However, just as it opened a barrage of bullets hit them. Two of the grunt yelled loudly as they fell forward onto the floor, dead. The other two ran through the open doorway.

"C'mon, let's get them while they're still reeling," Eve said to the marine.

The two ran over to the doorway. The other marine joined them. The door opened as they approached it, revealing a slope pathway that led right at a fifty degree angle up towards another small room. The squad ran up the slope pathway into a small rectangular shaped room with gold coloured walls and a silver coloured floor and ceiling. About half-way down the room was a small barricade, about three feet high and ten feet long and two feet thick, going from the left wall and stopping about half-way across the room to the right wall, almost separating the room in two. Another slope pathway, though this one was much smaller, led up from the floor into the next part of the room. On the right wall was a small doorway that led onto the pathway.

"There! Kill them all!" a deep voice shouted.

The three dived to the slope pathway's floor as a barrage of blasts and orange spikes flew at them. One of the spikes narrowly missed Eve's head and hit the wall behind her. She moved forward a few inches and looked over the rim of the floor to see two Brutes, both with dark blue armour and dark blue helmets, hiding behind the barricade of the walls around it. With them were the two Grunts that had been keeping guard in the last room and the Jackal that was patrolling along the entrance onto the pathway.

"Damn!" she growled as she ducked to avoid a blast striking her head. "They've got cover!"

"How are we gonna break through them?" one of the marines asked as he fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the Covenant.

He was right? How were they going to break through? If one of them even tried to stand up, they would be hit and killed by the Covenant's firepower. There had to be another way to break through them.

"Oh crap! Look out!" one of the marines shouted all of a sudden.

Eve looked and saw what the marine had shouted about. One of the Brutes had taken out a small device that was a dark blue ball with an orange thunderbolt going down the front of it. A plasma grenade! The brute pressed his thumb down on the thunderbolt. The grenade immediately turned into a light blue ball of fire. He then brought his arm back and threw the grenade towards them. If it landed on them, they would be killed when it exploded.

Eve, braving the threat of being torn part by blasts and orange spikes, stood up and swung her plasma pistol at the grenade. The grenade flew back in the opposite direction towards the Covenant squad, landing on one of the Grunts.

"AAAAAHHHH!" the Grunt screamed. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

"GET AWAY FROM US, YOU WHELP!" one of the Brutes roared at the Grunt.

BOOM! The grenade exploded. A loud scream filled the air as the Grunt flew over the barricade, landing on the floor a few feet from the squad. The two Brutes were killed outright as well. The Jackal was launched through the doorway onto the pathway and landed on the floor in the last room. It's neck must have been broken when it landed on the floor because it did not rise afterwards.

Eve stood up from the floor.

"It's clear," she said to the marines.

The two marines stood up and followed her over to the next part of the room. They ran through the gap, between the barricade and the wall, and ran over to the doorway. However, the marines stopped there. Eve noticed this when she had ran across the pathway to the control panel, which was a lift as the squad had thought it was.

"Are you coming?" Eve asked them.

"No, we'll stay here and cover this room," one of them replied. The marine looked over at the entrance to the room "If any Covenant get in here, we'll kill 'em,"

Eve sighed and nodded.

"Good luck up there, Eve," the marine added.

Eve nodded and placed a hand on a light blue circle on the front of the control panel. The circle glowed and the lift jolted slightly before ascending up into the tunnel. Eve looked up and saw a lime green/grey ceiling in another room at the top of the hole. It came closer with every second that passed. Eve gripped her plasma pistol tighter. She did not know who, or what would be up here. Most likely Brutes, but how many of them and were they alone were the questions she did not know the answers to. Hopefully, there would not be a lot of them.

A few seconds later, the lift began to slow in It's ascend. Eve watched as the hole passed annd found herself at the back of a large rectangular shaped room with the ceiling about twenty five feet above her and the lift on a four foot high raised section of floor at the back of the room. In front of her was another arrow front-like shaped piece of thick glass that was engraved with Forerunner markings and placed between two large metal pieces to stop it from smashing. Along the side walls of the room were raised pathways about four feet high. Along the sides of the pathways were large pillars, at least three exactly in line with the pillars opposite them. Between both end pillars and the middle one was a small slope that led down to the floor. A stretch of floor led through the middle of the room, between both pathways, to the end of the room, where there was a small control panel in front of a large rectangular window that showed a view of outside. Standing in front of the control panel were Brutes. Five of them. One of them was wearing gold armour and had a large fuel rod cannon on his shoulder. Two of the others had dark blue armour on with dark blue helmets. The last two were wearing teal green armour. For the moment, they were all facing the window, oblivious to their enemy that was behind them.

"The holy Citadel," the Brute in gold armour said. "I never thought I would live to see it,"

"We will soon begin the 'Great Journey'," one of the teal green armoured Brutes piped up. "They say there is untold knowledge of our holy lords within the walls of that structure. I wonder what, though,"

"What I want to know is; why are we still wasting our time guarding this structure?" one of the Brutes in dark blue armour growled. "The Humans and the Elites have no chance of breaking through our defences or even getting into this structure!"

"Silence!" the gold armoured Brute growled, silencing his comrade. "And cease with the moaning! We shall be Gods soon, so you just keep quiet!"

Eve crept off the lift as quietly as she could to the glass in front of her. When she reached it, she knelt down and looked out through the right side of the glass at the room. The pathways were the best flanking position, but with five Brutes, it was not going to be easy taking them all out at once. The Brute with the fuel rod cannon worried her the most. If just one blast hit her, it would disable her shield, and maybe even kill her. He would have to be killed first, but how was she going to carry this little plan of hers out.

_If I creep along one of the pathways, _Eve said in her mind. _Maybe I can distract them, then kill them. _

It was a good plan, but it was easier said than done. Well she could not sit here forever. It was either that or wait for them to leave, which she doubted would happen.

Eve stood up and crept out from behind the glass towards the right pathway. She did not take her eyes of the Brutes and kept her weapon close so she could fire on them if they spotted her, but they all had their backs to her, so there was very little chance of that happening.

Or so she thought.

What Eve had not taken in account was that her body was casting a reflection on the window, directly in front of the Brutes. The gold armoured Brute noticed the movement and looked at the thing moving across the window. It was her! The demon!

In an instant, the Brute shot round and fired a shot from his fuel rod cannon at the far end of the right pathway, towards Eve. She saw it coming and dived away from the pathway as the blast hit the wall and exploded. The other Brutes turned, taking out their weapons, and saw Eve lying on the floor.

"You have made a big mistake, demon!" one of the Brutes growled, aiming his spiker at her.

Eve stood up from the floor but was rooted to the spot. She was too scared to run, in fear that the Brute with the fuel rod cannon would fire on her again, and this time he might hit her. What was she going to do?

"I will deal with her!" the gold armoured Brute said.

Before Eve could react, the Brute fired another shot from his fuel rod cannon. However, instead of aiming for Eve, the blast was heading for the glass behind her.

BOOM! The blast hit the glass and exploded, shattering it completely. The two metals pieces broke and fell with the glass onto Eve. A cloud of dust filled the air around her. The Brute laughed and lowered his weapon. She was gone. He had done it. He had finally defeated the demon!

"Bring her corpse to me!" he ordered. "We will offer it to our holy prophet as a present,"

The other Brutes nodded and walked down the room towards the pile of rubble. When they reached it, when the dust cloud had cleared, they dug frantically to get to Eve's body. However, when they had dug straight to the floor, they found she was not there.

"She is not here, sir," one of the teal green armoured Brutes said to the gold armoured Brute, who growled in reply.

"You are probably not searching _all _of the rubble," he said, adding emphasis on the word all. "Keep looking!" he ordered.

The Brutes dug on, but still they found no trace of her body. They even moved all small piles of rubble, but still they found nothing. Where had she gone? She could not have just disappeared into thin air.

Unbeknownst to the Brutes, Eve had managed to slip out from the pile of rubble towards the left pathway when the dust cloud swept up from the glass and metal. She was now hiding behind the first pillar, keeping all of her body behind it so she would not be spotted.

"We cannot find her, sir!" the teal green armoured Brute said to the gold armoured Brute.

"Oh, for Forerunner's sake! Move, I will find her!" the gold armoured Brute growled, setting down his fuel rod cannon and walking over towards the other Brutes.

Eve saw the creature walk past the pillar and began searching through the rubble. This was perfect. Now she could quickly take them out. She ran as quietly and quickly as she could to the end of the pathway. When she reached the end, she hid behind the window side of the end pillar and, carefully and quietly, moved towards the fuel rod cannon, which the Brute had set down against it. Eve picked it up and checked the weapon. There was only one shot left in the weapon. The Brute probably had the rest.

_I better make this count _she thought as she stepped out from behind the pillar and took aim.

The Brutes were still searching for any sign of her body, but they still found nothing.

"I do not understand!" one of the dark blue armoured Brutes said. "How could the demon have just disappeared into thin air?"

"She must still be in this room," the gold armoured Brute said, standing up from the floor. "Spread out! Find her and kill her!"

"No need," Eve said loudly.

The Brutes shot round to see her standing at the other end of the room in front of the window, the fuel rod cannon aimed directly at them. Very quickly, their anger changed to shock, and fear.

Eve pressed down on the cannon's trigger. Another green blast shot out towards the Brutes.

BOOM! The blast hit the gold armoured Brute and exploded, filling the room with a blinding light green light. However, that was not the end of it. Eve had been right about the gold armoured Brute having the rest of the cannon's ammo with him. The other shots exploded. The gold armoured Brute was killed instantly. The two teal green armoured Brutes quickly followed the same fate, as did the two brutes wearing dark blue armour. All fell to the floor, never did not rise again.

Eve dropped the fuel rod cannon. Her plan had worked. Now it was time to deactivate this part of the barrier.

Eve turned and walked over to the control panel in front of the window. The view was actually quite amazing. It showed the back of the cliff, which actually looked more like the side of a small mountain, overlooking a large plateau next to a cliff. She could also see the top of the other two structures further up the cliff. Looking back at what was in the view in front of her, Eve could just about see a few small paths that went along the side of the mountain about fifty to sixty feet above the plateau. Much of the surface was covered in snow. The sky, however, was very strange. It looked like it was dusk. Very strange how on one side of the cliff, it was midday, and on the other it was dusk.

Then, her eyes rested on the edge of the plateau, where there was an enormous and strange looking structure.

It was completely coloured light silver and had a large main section shaped like a C with the top part at least around two hundred feet long and the bottom part driven dep into the ground and sticking out of the side not far from under the edge of the cliff. Another C shaped section, that was smaller than the main, was on top of that. A tall spire stuck out of the top about three hundred feet into the air. A large slope ramp led from a small platform to the snow covered ground. That was it. That was the Citadel. Truth was there.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve," _came Mary's voice. _"Where are you, over?"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"I'm in the control room for the first structure," she said. "I've just found the controls for the shield generator." she added.

"_Good," _came Mary's voice. _"Alright, shut it down," _she ordered.

Eve nodded and, after taking her finger off the radio in her ear, placed a hand on another light blue circle on the front of the control panel. A loud droning sound filled the room. Light blue lights went up the walls next to the window up to the ceiling and disappeared. A hologram of the structure Eve was in appeared above the control panel in front of her. However, this time the light blue beam that had been shooting out of the top of the structure's spire was gone. She had done it. She had deactivated this part of the barrier.

"_Good work, Eve," _came Mary's voice as Eve looked out through the window at the other two structures. _"That's one. The Arbiter and the Elites should be just about-" _the beam from the second structure disappeared. _"That's two!" _Mary exclaimed. _"Okay, It's all up to John and his team now,"_

Eve waited for a few seconds and looked at the third structure, waiting for the beam to turn off and disable the barrier. It did not. What was going on?

"_Nothing from John." _Mary said. _"Eve, head back outside to the beach head," _

Eve nodded and ran back up the room, past the bodies of the Brutes and the remains of what had been the arrow front-like shaped glass, to the lift. When she reached it, she rested a hand on the light blue circle on the control panel. The lift jolted slightly before descending back into the tunnel.

"_John, are you there, over?" _Mary asked urgently.

"_Brute reinforcements, ma'am," _came John's voice. _"(static)-we're pinned down,"_

"Hold position! I'm on my way!" Mary said.__

"Negative! Fire's to heavy, ma'am!" John said, though his transmission was mainly static but Eve could just about make out what he was saying. _"Everyone fall back!" _he ordered, presumably to his squad.

The transmission lasted a few more seconds. In the background, Eve could hear gunfire and blast fire and the screams of Covenant and UNSC forces. Then, it cut off.

"_John! Are you there, over?" _Mary asked urgently. _"John, come in! Come in!"_

Panic filled Eve like water filling up a tank. John was in trouble and she did not get over to his structure very quickly, he would die along with his squad. She had to get over there! She had to help them!

Then, another sound filled Eve's ears It sounded like… gunfire? Yes, it was gunfire, and shouting. What was going o-wait a minute. If the Brutes had sent reinforcements to the structure John was at, then they had most likely sent reinforcements here as well, which would probably explain the shouting and gunfire she could hear below her. Gradually, it grew louder as the lift neared the bottom of the tunnel. Eve readied her plasma pistol. She and the marines, if they were still alive, were going to have to fight their way out of here.

As the lift descended out of the tunnel, a light green blast shot up towards the pathway, narrowly missing Eve's head and hitting the ceiling. Eve dived the last few feet onto the pathway. One of the marines was lying down on the pathway, his weapon aimed at the Covenant.

"What happened?" Eve asked the marine as she laid down beside him.

"Whilst you were up there, the Covenant sent in reinforcements," the marine explained. "They got Parker so It's just you and me,"

Eve swore under her breath and looked at the Covenant squad. It was made up of four Grunts and three Jackals. The other marine was lying dead on the floor below the pathway. She could see the blast wound on the side of his head. He must have been killed outright.

"There! Demon!" one of the Grunts squeaked, firing a barrage of blasts up at her.

Eve moved back slightly to avoid the blasts and fired a few from her plasma pistol at the Grunts. One of them was hit and yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto the floor, dead. That was one dead, but they had to fight through another six to get out of this room, and this was only inside the structure. They most likely had more waiting outside. If there were, hen by the time they fought through them, if they did, and got to the beach head, John and his squad would be dead.

No! Eve was not going to let that happen. She and the marine _were_ going to break through these Covenant and any other Covenant waiting outside for them and they _were_ going to get to the beach head and save John and his squad.

Eve pressed down on her plasma pistol's trigger. A large ball of green plasma began to form on the front of the weapon. After a few seconds, she aimed it at one of the Jackals and released her grip on the trigger. The shot zoomed towards one of the Jackals, who saw it coming and raised It's shield to protect itself. The shot hit the plasma shield and, because it had been a charged shot instead of a normal one, obliterated the shield completely, also throwing the Jackal sideways. The marine next to Eve fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the creature. The Jackal screeched loudly as it was hit and fell to the floor, dead.

Eve repeated the charged shot tactic on the other two Jackals, disabling both their shields, and the marine killed both of them. When the Jackals were dead, they swept aside the Grunts, which were a walk over. The two then jumped down from the pathway to the floor and ran towards the room's door. It opened as they approached it. The two ran through back into the silver corridor.

"DEMON!"

A barrage of blasts flew towards them. Eve and the marine dived forward and hid behind the wall that formed the left side of the entrance corridor. Eve moved to the edge of the wall, towards the turning and peeked her head out to see two Brutes standing at the entrance of the tunnel. Outside the entrance, about three metres behind them, was a parked prowler. Both of the brutes were armed with spikers. One of them saw Eve and fired a few spikes at the wall, narrowly missing her head as she moved it back behind her cover.

"We need to get through those two," she said to the marine.

"Hang on," the marine replied as he dug his hand into his uniform's chest pocket. A second later, he took it out. In his hand was a plasma grenade. "I took this from one of the Grunts we killed when we got here," he said, handing it to Eve.

"Thanks," Eve replied.

She pressed her thumb down on the orange thunderbolt and threw the grenade into the entrance corridor. One of the Brutes shouted in surprise.

BOOM! An explosion lit up the entrance corridor. Eve, her plasma pistol raised, looked out from behind the wall to see both of the Brutes lying dead on the floor. Their way outside was clear.

"C'mon," Eve said to the marine.

The two ran out from behind the wall and back outside. However, they soon discovered that their warthog and the mongoose were lying in a burning pile in the middle of the open area.

"It's a good thing the Brutes were nice enough to bring us a ride," the marine said to Eve as he ran over to the prowler.

Nodding in reply, Eve ran over to the prowler and climbed int the driver's seat. The marine climbed onto the turret. Eve started the vehicle and reversed away from the entrance. She reverse-turned the vehicle right and then drove left back towards the slope that led onto the pathway. When she reached the slope, she drove the prowler up it and back onto the pathway.

As Eve drove across the pathway back into the canyon, she placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Commander, have you heard from Johnson?" she asked hopefully.

"_Not yet, Eve," _Mary replied. _"Oh, God. I hope he's okay. I need you to get to the beach and hitch a ride on a parked hornet. Fly over to the third tower and get inside. The Arbiter will be there waiting for you,"_

Eve nodded.

"Roger that, Commander," she said before taking her finger off the radio on her ear.

Swerving to avoid a fallen tree trunk, Eve was also beginning to worry about John. The Brutes had sent reinforcements to stop him and his team from deactivating the barrier. What was really making her panic was; why had neither she or Mary heard from him or anyone in his squad?

Then, Eve began asking herself the unthinkable questions. What if he was dead? Or worse; what if he was captured and being tortured? They made her shudder and only rose her panic level more. No! He is probably still fighting them off, hopefully. Eve just… Begged that John would be alive when she got to the third tower.

A second later, sunlight swept over the prowler as the vehicle shot out of the canyon back onto the beach. Parked on the ground about twenty feet away was a large UNSC vehicle Eve had seen before. It was a hornet. A marine was standing next to the craft. He waved as the prowler approached him.

"Glad you could make it, Eve," he shouted to her as the prowler came to a halt a few metres in front of him.

Eve and the marine climbed out of the prowler and ran over to the hornet.

"You can fly if you want to," the marine, standing next to the craft said as he opened the glass hatch.

"Thanks," Eve replied.

She climbed into the hornet's cog pit and pulled the hatch down. The controls in front of her were much like those of a pelican. There was ones for the engines, the cannons and even one to launch missiles from the craft's built in missile storage on the bottom of the craft.

Eve started the hornet. The two large fan-like engines activated, spinning round wildly and throwing up a load of sand and dirt. The two marines climbed onto the small platforms on the sides of the craft and placed a hand through a small hatch, which closed around their hand and held it in position to stop them from falling off the hornet whilst it was flying, on the side of the hornet. Eve pulled up on the controls. The hornet lifted up several feet from the ground. Eve pushed the controls forward and flew the warthog further down the cliff towards the third structure.

"_Glad you could join us, Evelyn," _came the Arbiter's voice from her ear radio.

Two large shapes hovered alongside the hornet. Eve looked and saw they were phantoms with light green tops instead of purple tops. Elite phantoms. A few ore smaller craft joined them. More hornets. All of them were heading towards the one target.

As they passed the beach head for the second structure, Eve looked out from the hatch to see the smoking remains of two anti-air wraiths on the ground. Lying on the ground around the vehicles were the bodies of dead Brutes, Grunts and Jackals. The Elites' assault must have been quick and deadly for that many Covenant to have been killed on one beach head.

"_All units, prepare to attack Covenant AA defences placed along the third structure," _voice from the pilot of one of the other hornet's said.

What! The Covenant had AA defences along the front of the third structure? Oh great! Maybe it was not such a good idea to attack the structure head on.

As the formation of hornets and Elite phantoms passed a section of the cliff that stuck out into the sea, they saw explosions erupting in the air in front of them. Banshees and hornets were battling each other in vicious dogfights above the structure. On several small clearings around the structure on the side of the cliff were a few AA wraiths, which were firing up at the UNSC fighters. Several craft fell from the skies into the sea, but the battle still went on. Both sides were determined to destroy the other down to the last fighter.

The third tower was much different than the last two. Instead of being built in a large bowl-like area in the middle of the cliff, the structure had been built on the side of the cliff overlooking the sea and other distant island. Although, it was much like the last structure Eve had entered, because it was built on the side of the a cliff, The large rectangular section was built onto a metal floor with an entrance into the building either side of it. There was another metallic path that led to the ground in front of a large cave. A light blue haze was hovering at the cave's entrance. The barrier. By the looks of it, that was the ay to the Citadel. So if they disabled this part of the shield generator, then their path to the Citadel, to Truth, would be clear.

"_Engaging banshees!" _came a pilot's voice from Eve's ear radio. _"Watch out for those AA defences,"_

Eve flew her hornet forward into the dogfight. Almost immediately, a banshee spotted her hornet and chased after her. It fired a few blasts from It's ion cannons at the top of the craft, attempting to hit the propeller engines and shoot the craft out of the sky.

"_Eve we got company!" _one of the marines hanging onto the side of her hornet warned, which came through to Eve on her ear radio.

"Don't worry, I know a few moves. We'll lose them," she replied.

The banshee fired another barrage of blasts at the hornet, which moved sideways to avoid getting hit. However, one of the marines was almost hit in the foot by one of the blasts as Eve moved the hornet left. She could not keep this up forever. The banshee would get them eventually.

"_Eve, is this one of your 'moves'?" _one of the marines asked her.

"No, this is," Eve corrected him.

Suddenly, she pulled back on the hornet's controls, bringing the craft's fast flight to a sudden halt. The Brute in the banshee roared in surprise, but before he could move his craft to aoid a collision…

CRASH! The side of the banshee hit the top of the hornet. The hornet spun round several times, but Eve stopped it. It was lucky the marines had their arms in the hatches, otherwise they would have been sent to an early watery grave.

The banshee was not as lucky. The wing being torn off also took part of the controls with it, causing it to spin out of control in mid air. The Brute roared and tried to regain control of the craft but it was no use. The banshee fell to the water, landing with a loud splash, and sank.

Eve flew the hornet back towards the battle. The two Elite phantoms were firing down on the AA wraiths but they were not having much luck as they also had to move every few seconds to avoid being blown out of the sky by the Brute banshees. The UNSC hornets tried to stop the banshees, but it was proving difficult with the AA wraiths firing on them. If the Elite phantoms were destroyed, then the assault on the third structure would quickly crumble, along with the entire plan on stopping Truth before he activated the rings.

"Looks like we'll have to take car of the AA wraiths ourselves," Eve said into her radio.

"_What?" _one of the marines on the side of the craft exclaimed. _"Are you crazy?"_

Eve ignored the marine and dived the hornet down towards the far left clearing on the side of the cliff. On it was an AA wraith that was firing up at the Elite phantoms. As Eve neared it, a small holographic screen on the controls in front of her came to life. It showed a turning picture of the AA wraith. A small red circle appeared around the wraith and the words **target locked **appeared on the holographic screen above the wraith. Eve pressed down on a small button next to the screen.

Two missiles flew towards the wraith from the top of Eve's hornet. Suddenly, the wraith turned to face the hornet and fired a few blasts up at it. Eve quickly moved the craft right, narrowly missing a blast that could have easily shot them out of the sky. However, the Brute driving the vehicle failed to notice the missiles.

BOOM! The missiles impacted on the front of the wraith. At once, the entire vehicle exploded in a fireball. Large chunks of armour were thrown into the air. Many fell over the side of the cliff into the sea far below. That was one down. Three more to go.

Eve flew the hornet towards the next wraith that was on the path that led to the cave. Again, the holographic screen appeared to show a picture of the wraith and the words **target locked** appeared above it. Eve fired another two missiles at the vehicle. They hit it and the wraith exploded, killing the Brute driving it. Two more left.

"_Eve, watch your six!" _the voice of another hornet pilot shouted through her ear radio.

Suddenly, the hornet shook violently. That could only mean one thing. There was a banshee behind them! Eve flew the craft right towards the Elite phantoms. True enough, a banshee chased after them, firing a barrage from It's cannons as it did.

Swerving to avoid hitting the front of one of the Elite phantoms, the banshee still after them, Eve began to curse under her breath. These banshees were starting to annoy her. They were also holding up their attack. If this continued on for much longer, then by the time they finally got to Truth, it would be too late. First of all, she had to get rid of their friend behind them.

Then, an idea popped into her head. It was crazy, as the marines would put it, but it was surely better than flying around waiting to get shot out of the air.

Eve banked the hornet right and flew full speed towards the structure. The banshee chased after them, also at full speed. When Eve's hornet was about thirty feet above the structure, one of the AA wraiths on the clearing next to the structure aimed It's cannons at the hornet and fired. Even though blasts were exploding around them, Eve had to get closer. She flew on. The marines on the side of her craft began to panic. Was she trying to get them killed? Their panic was not made any better with the banshee still chasing after them.

Suddenly, when the hornet was about twenty feet above the structure, Eve banked the craft right and flew away as fast as the craft could go. At the same time she turned the craft right, the banshee fired an ion blast to shoot them down. However, with no hornet, the next target was the AA wraith.

BOOM! The wraith was hit and exploded, the entire vehicle being engulfed in a fireball. The Brute driving the vehicle was killed. That was three down. Just one more to go. The Brute in the banshee roared in anger and turned his craft to chase after Eve's hornet. However, a barrage of bullets from another hornet's machine gun cannons struck the side of his banshee. The craft exploded and fell to the water far below.

Just as Eve was about to attack the last AA wraith, a voice on her ear radio stopped her.

"_Evelyn," _it said. It was the Arbiter. _"You have done enough, Evelyn. We will deal with the last wraith. Kill any of the fools on our landing zone,"_

Eve nodded and flew the hornet back towards the craft. Sure enough, a pack of Brutes, wearing teal green armour, had come outside to shoot down their enemies. Eve pressed down on the machine gun cannons trigger. A barrage of bullets flew towards the pack. Their thin teal green armour was unable to withstand the assault. For the next few minutes, the air around the structure was filled with the roars of dying Brutes. The entire pack fell to the thrown to the ground, dead.

Another explosion erupted further down the cliff. Eve looked and saw the last AA wraith go up in flames. That was it. The AA defences were destroyed. Now it was ime to deactivate the barrier and begin the final attack to Truth.

"_Begin landing the troops," _the Arbiter's voice ordered, which Eve heard through her ear radio.

She flew the hornet over to the path that led to the cave and touched down on it. The hatches holding the marines' arms opened up, allowing them to step off the craft back onto ground. Eve opened the hatch and, remembering to grab her plasma pistol, climbed out of the hornet's cog pit. One of the Elite phantoms hovered over, stopping above the pathway that led around the large rectangular block to both entrances and off to the ground. The large circle on the bottom of the craft opened up and several large figures hovered down from inside the phantom to the ground. Among them was the Arbiter.

"Alright, let's go," she said to the marines.

Eve ran up the metallic path onto the structure. The marine followed. The Arbiter ran up to her.

"Your sergeant was taken inside," he explained to her. "I pray he is still alive. If so, we must be quick."

Eve nodded. The Arbiter and the Elites ran through the entrances into the structure. Eve and the marines followed the Arbiter through the left entrance into the building. The rest of the Elites, three minors and a major, entered the structure through the other entrance. They came to a halt outside the door that led into the main room of the structure.

The Arbiter stepped towards the door, causing it to open automatically. He looked in, his weapon raised, for a second or two before moving his hand forward. _It is clear_. The rest of the squad entered the room, their weapons raised. Even though the Arbiter had said it was clear, that did not mean the Brutes would send forces to stop them.

This main room of the structure was exactly like the last. It had the two barriers either end of the small room, that looked like a small structure, a pathway going around both sides of the small structure and a tunnel that led up to the generator's controls. Also like in the last structure was a small pathway, with a small control panel at the end, that came out of the small structure's right wall and ended in mid air directly below the tunnel. The control panel turned the end of the pathway into a lift which led up to the control room. The only problem was; they had to get to it as there was no doubt the Brutes would be here and prepared to defend it to the last.

"Stay alert!" the Arbiter ordered. "The fools will be waiting for us,"

The Arbiter walked forward, the two plasma rifles in his hands raised into the room. Eve followed close behind, her plasma pistol raised. The rest of the squad followed them. They were ready for anything the Brutes would throw at them. If any Brutes or Grunts or jackals came charging into the room right now, they would cut them down. The Elites, especially, wanted to leave no survivors. These heretics had not left any mercy to the Elites during the Great Schism. The Elites were showing none in return.

The squad passed the entrance barriers of the small structure and were walking underneath the pathway. However, Eve felt, well…nervous. They had not contacted any Covenant. Maybe John and his squad had killed most of them before the reinforcements arrived. Or, by some miracle, they had killed the reinforcements as well and were held up in the top of the structure, waiting for help.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Suddenly, a mass of flying green creatures descended from the tunell upon them. The squad immediately fired in all directions in the air, trying to kill whatever these things were. A loud screech filled the air and the body of a large bug-like alien fell to the floor. Eve saw the body. It was a Drone.

"Kill them! Leave none alive!" one of the Elites shouted.

Blast and gunfire filled the air, followed by loud screeches as the Drones were hit and fell to the floor, dead. Some of them tired to scratch at their enemies but were quickly mown down by the blasts and bullets. After a few moments of screeching and shouting and blast and gunfire filling the room, the Drones were all dead.

"Looks like they know we're here," one of the marines said.

"That means there'll be more of them," Eve replied.

She was right. No sooner than a second passed after she finished speaking, as if on cue, two large figures ran out from behind the walls that made up the opposite end of the small structure. Hunters! The two creatures stopped where they were and aimed their cannons, which began to glow light green. Oh God, this was going to get very ugly very quickly.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" the Arbiter yelled.

BOOM! BOOM! Two large green lasers fired at the squad. They dived to the floor, narrowly missing the lasers as they hit the walls, leaving huge charcoal black marks on them. As soon as they stopped firing, the squad bolted for cover. They ran out of the small structure and dived behind the barriers or the walls.

"We won't get to the top of the structure as long as these freaks are here," one of the marines growled.

"Do not worry," the Arbiter said. "I will deal with them. Keep them distracted." he ordered before running down the right pathway, disappearing from sight.

The squad took turns in firing a few blasts and bullets at the Hunters, though each time was a risk of getting yourself killed. However, the creatures' thick armour protected them. It was obvious the Arbiter was going to attack them from behind, but the Hunters were charging up their lasers to fire again. What if these walls were close to crumbling after suffering from the first laser hit? If they collapsed, apart from burying the squad under heavy piles of rubble, the squad would be exposed to the Hunters. The light in the Hunters' cannons was growing brighter, meaning it was close to firing! 

_Oh, hurry up, Arbiter! _Eve thought worryingly.

Then, a figure appeared out from behind the wall at the other end of the small structure. Eve looked and saw it was the Arbiter. He raised his plasma rifles and fired a barrage of blasts at the Hunters. One of the Hunters was hit continuously in the orange weak spot on it's back and fell to the floor, dead. The other Hunter growled and shot round. The Arbiter had killed It's comrade! He was going to pay for that! However, the Hunter had not counted on that it had exposed It's back to the other members of the squad behind it. The squad raised their weapons and fired on the Hunter, hitting it in It's orange weak spot. The creature growled loudly before falling onto the floor, dead.

"Let us continue, hurry!" the Arbiter said.

The rest of the squad ran through the small structure, going around the bodies of the dead Hunters, to the other side, rejoining the Arbiter. The door on the wall ahead of them opened, revealing another slope pathway that led up to a small rectangular shaped room. Like in the first structure, this room had a small barrier, about half-way down the room, going from one wall and stopping about half-way across the room, where a small slope led up to a doorway that led into the next part of the room. On the right wall of the next part of the room was another doorway that led onto the pathway that stuck out in mid air in the middle of the small structure.

The squad ran up the slope pathway into the rectangular shaped room. However, when they ran through the doorway into the next part of the room, a loud screech caught their attention. Before they could access what it was, another green mass swept onto them. No doubt it was more Drones.

"Kill them! Quickly!" the Arbiter ordered.

Again, another barrage of bullets and blasts flew about the room. Loud screeches filled the air as some of the Drones were hit and fell to the floor, dead.

Then, one of the Drones grabbed the battle rifle of one of the marines and wrestled him to the floor. One of the Elites tried to intervene but another Drone jumped onto the Elite and scratching and hitting him. The Drone that had pinned the marine to the floor grabbed his battle rifle and fired at the marine. The bullets ripped into his chest. The marine gasped for breath for a few seconds before he went quiet and lay still.

"You will pay for that, you heretic!" an Elite shouted.

The next thing the Drone knew, a foot flew through the air and caught it in the chest. The Drone screeched loudly as it was thrown against the wall of the room. The Elite, a major, ran over to the creature and brought It's plasma rifle down onto the creature several times, each time the Drone screeched loudly, before it went quiet and lay still.

When the last of the Drones had been killed, the squad surveyed the damage done to them. Apart from a few cuts and bruises, they were okay. Eve, however, sighed sadly when she saw the dead marine. The Arbiter placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He was a good soldier, Evelyn," he said. "But more like him will die for nothing if we do not hurry,"

The Arbiter was right. It was bad enough that some of the marines had been killed, but more marines who made sacrifices in this battle would have died for nothing. It was time to deactivate the barrier and stop Truth.

Eve ran down the pathway to the control panel at the end. The Elites and the marine lined up along the pathway.

"We will guard the entrance to make sure no reinforcements get to you," the Arbiter explained. "Hurry and deactivate the barrier, Evelyn. We have no time to waste."

Eve nodded and placed a hand on the light blue circle on the front of the control panel. The end of the pathway jolted slightly before rising into the tunnel. Eve looked up and saw another green-like surface slowly getting closer. The generator room. Eve breathed a deep breath. There was no doubt more Brutes would be waiting for her up here. They were most likely to be more powerful ones as this was the last barrier, but they were so close. The attack was already half done. If she disabled this barrier, they could attack the Citadel and get to Truth and… Kill him.

Eve gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She clutched her plasma pistol tighter. Truth was her priority now. _He_ had been the one that ordered everything. The war, this 'Great Journey', the attack on Earth, the deaths of one of his fellow prophets and leaving the other behind on High Charity to die and now the quest to activate all the Halo Rings.

What struck Eve the most was the attack on Reach. Truth had ordered it and, as a result, all of her friends and fellow comrades were dead. She had been mourning them ever since, but now she was going to have the chance to get her revenge. Truth was going to pay dearly for what he had done to her and Eve was going, she even wanted this, to suffer painfully, just like she had.

The lift exited the tunnel, revealing a generator room that was exactly the same as the one Eve had entered in the first structure. The same pillars, raised pathways along both side walls, a large window showing a view of the Citadel, which was much closer as the structure was nearer the end of the cliff and even the arrow front-like shaped glass on the floor in front of her.

However, there was one big difference in this room. Scattered along the pathway that led to the large window were bodies. Bodies of marines. Weapons and blood was splattered across the side of the pillars and the floor around them. What worried Eve was that John was not here! Where was he? Had they killed him and taken his body? Or had they captured him and taken him somewhere else?

A chuckle caught Eve's attention. Standing at the end of the room was a large figure. It was a Brute. What was worse, it was one wearing dark red armour. He had a gravity hammer in his hand and a large ball shaped device on the side of his belt. He must have been facing Eve when she arrived into the room as he laughed when the lift came to a halt.

"I was beginning to think you were not going to show up, demon!" he said.

Eve walked off the lift and around the arrow front-like shaped glass, stopping near the bodies of the marines. The Brute reached onto the back of his belt and took out an energy sword activator and tossed it to her. She raised a hand and caught it. Eve activated the weapon and threw her plasma pistol to the floor. The Brute held his gravity hammer in both of his hands and clutched it tightly.

"We shall duel until the other falls," he said.

Eve said nothing, because she was worried. She had been in one of these duels before, but that was on a wide platform. This was a room that was much smaller and actually had walls and pillars to stop her. She could easily get cornered here, and if that happened then she was as good as dead.

Suddenly, the Brute charged towards Eve and swung his gravity hammer towards her. Eve dived away as she felt the air explode. As she got up, the Brute swung his weapon towards her again. Eve quickly climbed over the barrier that led onto the left pathway, narrowly avoiding behind blown apart by the gravity hammer.

She ran down the pathway and ran out in front of the window. Sure enough, the Brute came out from behind the end of the pathway and ran down the room towards Eve. She dived away from him as he swung his gravity hammer, missing her by a few inches. Eve quickly swung her energy sword at the Brute, hitting his back armour and tearing through it. A trickle of blood came out of the Brute's back. The creature roared in pain and swung his gravity hammer at Eve.

This time, he hit his target.

Eve flew through the air, landing painfully against one of the pillars about four metres from where she had been standing. She groaned as she rubbed the side of her head. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the shield's power meter was empty and the bar was beeping with a red light flashing around it. Her shield was down. She was vulnerable.

The Brute growled as he walked over to her, his gravity hammer half-raised.

"You will pay for hurting me, demon!" he growled as he stopped a few feet from her.

Eve looked up at the Brute as he raised his gravity hammer. If he brought that down onto her whilst her shield was down, she was dead. She had to do something!

Wait a minute. That thing attached to his belt was something Eve had seen before. It-it was one of those bright sun-like light things that, if activated, could pretty much fill the air with light as bright as the Sun. It was an easy thing to use when you were outnumbered or needed a quick getaway. If she activate it somehow, she could strike at the Brute and kill him.

As the Brute was about to bring his gravity hammer down, Eve grabbed a pistol from one of the dead marines and fired a shot at the ball shaped device on his belt. At once, the entire room seemed to explode in light. The Brute roared in surprise as he was suddenly blinded. Eve, although she was also blinded by the device, quickly ran from where she was sitting, her arms out in front of her so she would not run into anything dangerous. A few explosions erupted behind her, indicating that the brute was swing gin his gravity hammer about to try and kil Eve even though it was impossible. Eve began to panic and moved quickly so she would not get hit.

Finally, her hands touched something. It felt hard. It must be a pillar. To hell if it was not, she just wanted to get away from the Brute. She felt her way around the side of the object and to another flat surfaced bit. She breathed a sigh of relief and rested her back against the object. That was close. All she had to do now was wait for the light object to run out of power.

_C'mon! _Eve thought impatiently. _Run out already!_

Finally, a few seconds later, the light began to fade. Eve, who had been correct in thinking she was hiding behind a pillar, noticed this and saw the back of the Brute beginning to form. Now was her chance. She ran out from behind the pillar and charged towards the Brute. When she was a few feet from him, she swung her energy sword at the creature's back. The sword crashed through the armour and drove deep into the Brute's flesh. He roared in pain and dropped his gravity hammer. Eve, leaving her energy sword embedded in the Brute, grabbed the gravity hammer and swung it with all her strength at the Brute. A loud explosion filled the air as the Brute was thrown against the wall of the room. He slid down to the floor, gasping for breath. He looked at Eve and tried to mutter something, but death quickly took his life and he went quiet.

Eve dropped her gravity hammer. That was a tough duel, but she doubted it would be the last. There was no time to worry about duels now. She had disable the barrier.

Eve ran up to the control panel below the window and placed a hand on the light blue circle on the front of the control panel. Again, like before light blue lines came out from the control panel and went up the wall to the ceiling where they disappeared. A loud droning sound filled the room and the light blue light from the structure, which Eve could just about see from her window, went off. The enormous light blue haze then disappeared. Eve saw this. That was it! It was done. The barrier was disabled. Now they could begin the attack to get to Truth and end this war once and for all.

Then, a large shaped hovered into view from the top of Eve's window. It cast a huge shadow over much of the surrounding area. It was the _Shadow of Intent_. Eve watched as the craft hovered over the tower towards the Citadel.

"_Now, prophet," _came Vadumee's voice, which sounded as if it were satisfied. _"Your end has come. Ready the cannons!"_

Eve felt a sense of shock rolled through Eve. What? The Elites were going to attack the Citadel? So the Arbiter and the marines had wasted a lot of lives and then Vadumee suddenly decides he wants to destroy Truth. This was pathetic. It was not fair! Eve had wanted to kill him because she had suffered the most out of anyone on this damn mission! She was furious. She wanted to get her revenge. Well, that was all blown away now.

She just wished that something would stop Vadumee from firing on the Citadel, or at least hold him up. Eve just wanted in there and kill Truth. After she had done that, Vadumee could blow up the Citadel and the surrounding structures as much as he liked. Until then, however, Truth was going to die by _her_ hands, not anyone else's. Not by Vadumee, or the Arbiter or John or Mary. Her and her on-

"_Commander!" _came an Elite's voice. _"We are picking up a strong energy signature nearby!"_

Suddenly, a large white circle appeared in the air, about half a mile to a mile, above the structure. It was a wormhole. Oh no! Was it more Brute reinforcements? Please God, no!

Then, a large object came shooting out of the hole. It was partly invisible, probably some kind of enormous cloaking device. Eve stared wide-eyed at the object. It was enormous! It was shaped like half a ball with huge spires sticking out of the bottom of it. Around most of it were these huge bulge-like things that looked like growths. The wormhole disappeared and the object flew overhead.

Eve could not get it out of her mind that she had seen this thing before. In fact, it was very recent, but she just could not remember where. What it did look a lot like was… Oh no! No! It was…

"_High Charity!" _came Vadumee's voice. He took the words right out of her mouth. _"By the Gods! Everyone, brace for impact!"_

The enormous city, or what had once been a city, flew overhead. Smaller comet-like objects came shooting down from it. One of them narrowly missed the front of the _Shadow of Intent_. Another flew over the top of the craft and crashed into the side of the mountain.

BOOM! An explosion erupted on the side of the _Shadow of Intent's _rear section's, eagle-like wings. Fire shot out of the damaged section. One of the comet objects, presumably the one that struck the _Shadow of Intent_, struck the side of the mountain, being incinerated instantly.

Then, another explosion filled the air, though this one was much more powerful. A blinding flash lit up the sky, making even the Sun look dim, and the ground even shook slightly. The building rumbled and a few pieces of metal fell from the ceiling. Eve prayed the building would not collapse. Thankfully, it did not.

Then, two more objects came into view. It was more comets. They were heading for the side of the mountain, both looked to be landing on the same spot. They were getting closer to each other though. They will crash!

That is exactly what happened. Because they wee travelling at high speeds and heading for the same impact point, they collided with each other. However, instead of exploding in mid air, they were knocked away from each other. One fell towards the far side of the plateau, towards the first structure. The other was heading towards the third structure, towards Eve. She saw the coming threat and dived to the floor.

SMASH! The comet crashed through the window, shattering it completely and raining glass down onto the floor. The comet hit the side wall and broke in two, one chunk being bigger then the other. Both fell to the other end of the room, where the pillars and the floor brought them to a halt.

Eve shot up from the floor, being careful not to slice her hands open, and raised the pistol she had taken from the dead marines. The one enemy she truly feared. Humanity, the Elites, the Covenant, even Truth absolutely truly feared had arrived.

It was the Flood.

A loud growl erupted from behind the larger comet. Eve shuddered and raised her weapon. Then, a tall figure ambled out from behind the comet. It was a combat form. An Elite one, which Eve could tell by the mutated feet that stuck out from underneath the mutated skin. Then, more combat forms appeared, a mixture of Elite and Brute. Then, smaller moving creatures with tentacles appeared. Infection forms. The infection forms moved towards the bodies of the marines and began to eat away at the flesh. They burrowed inside. At once, the bodies of the marines jerked and shook violently as if they were having a fit. Then, large bulges and growths began to appear all around their bodies, breaking through the skin. Tentacles appeared on the arms and hands. Limbs were twisted in ways Eve had seen before, but could still not imagine. The bodies then stood up, now combat forms to join the ever growing Flood army.

Suddenly, one of the Elites growled loudly and charged towards Eve. She fired a few bullets at the creature, shooting off It's arms. However, this undead monster still charged towards her, even though it had no arms to strike her with. However, unluckily for Eve, the other combat forms rushed to join in killing her and making her one of their own.

Eve ran from the monsters down the right pathway. Some of the infection forms that had not burrowed into the marines' bodies moved up the side of the paths in an effort to try and jump onto her. As Eve ran past the gaps, they struck. Most of them missed. One did succed in hitting her but it popped like a balloon as her shield lit up. Eve's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was in the yellow zone. If another infection form landed on her suit, the shield would be gone and she would be vulnerable to attack.

Eve jumped off the end of the pathway. On the floor near her was her plasma pistol. She rushed over to it and picked it up. The combat forms charged toward her from the pathways and the middle of the room. Eve fired a barrage of blasts at them, successfully killing and completely destroying two of the combat forms as well as an infection form. However, there were too many of them for her to fight. She had to flee. She ran around the arrow front-like shaped glass and slammed her hand down on the light blue circle. The lift jolted and descended away from the room back into the tunnel, narrowly escaping the combat forms just in time.

Eve breathed a heavy sigh of relief. That was scary. This battle was going to intensify greatly now that the Flood had put in a sudden appearance. What she was worried about was that they could stop them from getting to the Citadel, or worse, they could destroy the entire attack force. If that happened, then all this planning and fighting would be for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"_Ship master," _came Mary's voice. _"What's your status, over?" _

_"Significant damage, weapons system disabled," _came Vadumee's voice.

"_Move to a safe distance," _Mary ordered. _"Stay away from the Flood,"_

"_This is alarming!" _Vadumee replied. _"Why would the parasite come here?" _

"_The Ark is out of range of all active installations!" _came Wally's voice, which sounded very alarmed. _"We have a new priority: We must contain this outbreak before-"_

"No!" Mary cut him off. _"First we stop Truth, Wally. Then, we deal with the Flood,"_

"By that time, it will be too late," Wally's voice muttered.

Eve sighed. She did not know what was wrong with Wally, but it was _really_ starting to piss her off. Ever since he landed on this Ark, he had done nothing but worry about it, which okay was fair enough as he saw it as a sacred place for his creators, but he started forgetting about the reason they were here. The assault force needed him. If he decided to leave them then this attack would collapse and Truth would have won. Eve was going to have to try and set him straight when she met up with him again.

"Kill the parasite beasts!" a voice from below shouted.

Eve heard it loud and clear. That could only mean one thing: The Flood were attacking the Elites. Eve readied herself for the coming fight. There was no telling how many of them there were, but what worried her more was: How many of the Elites were left?

The lift descended out of the tunnel and connected back onto the pathway. Eve was revealed with a scene of chaos in front of her.

The Elites and a large group of Flood combat forms were locked in a deadly battle. The Arbiter was wrestling his weapon with an Elite combat form. The two major Elites were standing back-to-back and were firing on any combat forms that came near them. One of the minor Elites was lying dead on the floor. One of the remaining minor Elites swung his plasma rifle at a Brute combat form, hitting the creature and breaking it apart, throwing the remains onto the floor. The other surviving minor Elite was standing at the end of the pathway that led from the door to the small structure and firing on any Flood that came through the door. The marine was nowhere to be seen. He had probably been killed and made into one of the Flood.

Eve jumped down from the pathway and fired a few shots from her pistol at the combat form the Arbiter was wrestling with. The combat form was hit, having It's left arm shot off, and shot round to see who had fired on it. Big mistake. The Arbiter quickly swung his plasma rifle at the creature's back. The combat form broke apart and the remains fell onto the floor.

"Thank you, Evelyn," the Arbiter said. "Let us kill the rest of these vermin!"

The Arbiter ran over to another combat form that was wrestling with the major Elites and swung his plasma rifle at the creature, breaking it apart and throwing the remains onto the floor, allowing the major Elites to help in killing the rest of the combat forms. Eve ran over to the end of the pathway and fired on a Human combat form that came through the door. Following that combat form were a few infection forms. Eve and the minor Elite, also firing on any Flood that came through the door, fired on them. Hitting one f them and causing it to explode, which made the other infection forms follow the same fate.

When the Arbiter had fired on the last combat form, an Elite, killing it, he scanned the room to make sure they were all dead.

"We must go back outside! Quickly!" he said when he was done.

The Arbiter ran past Eve towards the door. She and the rest of the Elites followed. They ran through the door and split into two groups: Eve, the Arbiter and a minor Elite going through the right entrance, the two majors and other minor Elite going through the left entrance. The squad ran back outside onto the pathway.

_ROOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a wave of combat forms descended from above onto them. One of them swug It's tentacle arm at one of the major Elites. The Elite screamed loudly as it was hit and fell to the floor, dead.

The squad fired on the combat forms as they continued to appear from above and fell down onto them. The Arbiter fired on a Brute combat form that tried to strike him ith It's tentacle arm, hitting and killing the creature. Eve fired several rounds at two Elite combat forms, hitting and killing both, one of them she shot off both arms and pat of the head. The major Elite grabbed the tentacle of another combat form and threw it against the wall before bringing It's weapon onto the creature, breaking it apart. The minor Elite swung It's fist at a Brute combat form, hitting the creature and throwing it to the floor. He then fired a few blasts from his plasma rifle at the creature, fully killing it.

When the last of the combat forms were killed, the squad ran off the metal pathway onto the ground in front of the cave. Sure enough, the light blue haze that had been there was gone. The way was clear. Now they could begin the final attack.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. It was coming from behind. The squad turned to see a phantom and two pelicans descending towards them. One of the pelicans had a machine gunned turret warthog held by It's metal pincers. The other was holding a scorpion tank. There was no doubt there was going to be a hard battle in store for them.

The phantom stopped about ten feet above the ground. The circle on the bottom of the craft opened up and a light blue haze hovered down to the ground. The Arbiter and his Elites ran into the haze and, as if grabbed by invisible hands, was lifted off his feet into the craft. The two pelicans dropped their vehicles, one of them turned and opened up the resting area to release seven men on foot and two more on a mongoose, which drove out and parked next to the warthog. Wally also stepped out of the pelican onto the ground. He had a lot of disappointment and annoyance on his face.

"Alright," one of the marines, a sergeant, announced. "Board the vehicles. We got a big fight ahead of us,"

The marines ran over to the vehicles and boarded them, four on the scorpion tank and three on the warthog. Wally, however, just sighed.

"This is pathetic," he said. "I must access the damage to the Ark."

_"No, Oracle," _came the Arbiter's voice. _"We need you to aid us in getting into the Citadel,"_

"The Ark is more important," Wally argued back. "I will help you when I am done,"

he went to activate his anti-gravity boots, but Eve stopped him.

"Wally! Stop!" she said.

Wally growled in frustration and turned to face her.

"What is it now?" he asked her.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" she asked him furiously, walking up to him. "We need you to help us and… And now your just going to leave us?"

"I must access the damage to the Ark, Eve," Wally replied. "I told you: I will be back when I am done,"

Eve sighed through her gritted teeth and rubbed a hand down the front of her face.

"You know, you've been a real idiot lately!" she said to him. "Ever since we landed on this place, you've left me and all the others when we have no idea where the Hell we are and most of those times, we almost got killed by the Covenant. And where have you been? You've been off trying to care for something that is more important that your friends."

"The Ark is an important place to me, Eve!" Wally replied, his voice rising slightly. "In case you have not noticed, I want to protect this creation of the Forerunners. I have already had to sacrifice my previous home for you and the galaxy, but not the Ark. To me, it is more important than hunting some madman alien. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and access the damage to the Ark."

Eve had had enough.

"Alright then," she said. "But I'm telling you this, Wally. You now have a choice. You can either come along with us and help stop Truth and then we can deal with the Flood. Or, you can go and care for you precious Ark." she pointed a finger at him and leaned in closer. "But if you decide to fly off for your Ark, I will never speak to you again and you will not be welcome amongst any of us again. In fact, since you can teleport, or whatever, from one place to another, we'll leave you here to be with your Ark. But you'll all on your own again like you were before. It's your choice,"

Wally stood there for a few moments, taking in what Eve had said to him. He wanted to help her and stop Truth, as he cared much for other beings in the universe, just like his Forerunner creators did, but he also wanted to protect the very creation that still kept them alive to him. Which one was he going to pick?

Finally, he made up his mind.

"Goodbye, Eve," he said.

He activated his anti-gravity boots and flew off above the cliff. When he was above the cliff, he took one last look at Eve, shook his head and flew off behind the cliff line, disappearing from sight.

_So be it! _Eve thought.

He had made up his mind. She had made up hers.

Eve walked over to the scorpion tank and climbed into the driver's seat, closing the hatch behind her. All she wanted to do now was to break through the remaining Covenant defences and finish Truth once and for all.

Eve started the tank and drove the vehicle forward into the cave. The warthog and the mongoose shot ahead of her to keep an eye out for any positions they had set up to guard the way to the Citadel.

"_Eve," _came Mary's voice from her ear radio. _"Shipmaster's carrier is out of commission. I need you to take down truth quickly. The Flood is only going to put pressure on him; accelerate his plans. Punch a hole through the cliffs! Get inside that Citadel, hurry!"  
_

Eve nodded, as if replying to the order given by Mary, and drove the tank onward towards the end of the cave. The warthog and the mongoose drove on ahead to scout out any positions.

Suddenly, as Eve drove the tank out of the cave and into a pathway through two tall rock walls, on the dawn side of the cliff, a barrage of bullets flew from the warthog, and a rocket from the mongoose, towards a Covenant circular platform placed above a cross shaped platform on the ground. Several barriers were placed on the ground around the cross shaped platform. Among them was a dark blue armoured Brute with three Grunts and a Jackal sniper on the platform. They fired on the UNSC forces, which retaliated with their own gunfire, hitting and killing one of the Grunts.

Eve aimed the tank's main cannon at the circular platform and fired a shot. The platform exploded in a fireball, throwing the Jackal through the air, landing several metres away near a turning that led right. The Brute was thrown to the floor out from behind the barriers, completely exposed. The marine on the warthog's turret fired on the creature, killing him.

"Ah! Leader dead! Run away!" one of the Grunts screamed.

The two remaining ran out from behind the barriers towards the turning that led left. However, they were completely exposed to the marines. The marine in the warthog's passenger seat fired two bursts of ammo from his battle rifle at the Grunts, hitting and killing both.

"Alright, let's move on," the marine driving the warthog said. "Eve, we'll cover your front."

The warthog and the mongoose drove on down the path, turning right into the next. Eve followed close behind with the scorpion tank. She turned the tank right and followed them.

The three vehicles found themselves on a pathway that went around the side of a large mountain, or a set of mountains on this side of the cliff. The pathway went around the edges of an enormous plateau with a large structure built onto the cliff edge. It was the Citadel.

"Citadel in sight, commander," one of the marines said into his radio.

"_Roger that, get to it as quickly as you can," _Mary ordered.

"It's not gonna be easy, ma'am," the soldier replied. "The Brutes are mobilizing whatever they've got left to defend this place."

The marine was right. Eve opened that hatch and looked out so see an enormous battle raging around the platform area.

Flying in the air, about five hundred feet above the plateau, was a dogfight raging between UNSC hornets and Covenant banshees. A few of the Elite phantoms hovered over to aid their allies but it was difficult as more banshees just kept coming to stem the flood of UNSC and Elite forces. Further down the pathway, several wraiths were firing on the side of the mountain. What is was they were trying to hit was unknown.

Eve, and so did the UNSC marines and the Elites here, knew that this was it. This was the final battle in the war with the Covenant. Whoever would win this battle would decide the fate of Humanity and all life in the galaxy.

"All forces, begin the attack!" the marine in the warthog's passenger seat said.

The warthog and the mongoose drove right down the path towards a turning that led right and went along the bottom of the mountain's side. Eve followed in the tank, though being careful not to go too fast in case the tank fell over the side of the path. Thankfully, it did not. Eve drove the tank right and down the path that went along the bottom of the mountain's side.

"Watch out! Ghost!" one of the marines on the tank's side warned.

He was right. A ghost was zooming up the path, probably having driven past the mongoose and the warthog too quickly for the them to fire on it, towards them. As usual, it was being piloted by a Grunt. The marines fired on the vehicle, attempting to hit the creature driving it or at least blow it up. However, it did not work. They were going to need bigger and better weapons to destroy it.

Eve aimed the tank's main cannon at a spot on the ground the ghost would have to pass over and fired. The shot hit the ground just as the ghost drove over it. The vehicle was thrown, spinning, into the air. The Grunt driving the vehicle screamed as it fell out of the vehicle. The two fell down past the pathway to the ground below. A loud crash followed a second later, along with the sudden halt of the Grunt's screaming.

Eve drove the tank on further down the pathway, turning left onto the path that went along the side of the mountain. When they reached the end, she turned the tank left again and drive up another path that led to a small hill. The mongoose and the warthog had already driven on ahead. Eve hoped they were okay.

As the tank drove onto the hill, the crew saw another path lead right to a small clearing on the top of a large piece of rock about thirty metres away. A small slope path led down to the plateau on the right side of the large rock. However, scattered along the path were several wraiths. One of them was firing on two small vehicles that were swerving about a few metres in front of the craft, desperately trying to avoid being blown apart by the wraith's mortar blasts. The vehicles were the warthog and the mongoose.

Eve looked on the small holographic screen on the control panel in front of her. There were three wraiths, each spaced about ten metres from each other. The two behind the front wraith were firing on the side of the cliff. As Flood infested _High Charity_ crashed on the other side of the cliff, in the same direction of the mountain side the wraiths were firing on, it was probable they were firing on Flood forces. That did not matter now. They had to get rid of these three wraiths.

Eve aimed the tank's cannon at the first wraith and fired. The shot hit the front armour of the vehicle, making it shake slightly. The wraith turned towards the scorpion tank. Another shot loaded into the main cannon. Both were ready to fire, but who out of Eve or the Brute piloting the wraith would fire first?

BOOM! The wraith, suddenly, exploded in a fireball. The Brute driving the vehicle was launched several feet into the air, falling past the pathway and landing on the ground far below. The marine on the back of the mongoose gave a thumbs up to Eve. He had fired a rocket from his rocket launcher at the wraith, pretty much saving Eve and the marines on the tank from being blown up.

That was one down. Two more to go.

Eve drove the scorpion tank forward. The other two UNSC vehicles moved ahead towards the next wraith. The tank easily pushed the wraith's remains out of the way to clear a path for itself. They landed with a loud crash on the ground below. Eve stopped the tank and fired another shot from the main cannon at the next wraith, which was still concentrating on firing on whatever was on the mountain.

BOOM! The wraith exploded, blowing off the back and the side the tank shot hit. The hatch shot open and the Brute driving the vehicle climbed out of the burning remains. Big mistake. The marine on the warthog's machine gun turret fired on him, killing him.

Two down. One more to go!

The vehicles drove ahead. The scorpion tank easily pushed aside the second wraith's remains, again making another loud crashing sound as they fell off the side of the pathway to the ground below. Eve stopped the tank about nine metres from the last wraith and fired. The vehicle was hit and shook slightly. It turned to fire on the scorpion tank. However, the marine on the back of the mongoose fired a shot from his rocket launcher at the vehicle.

BOOM! The wraith exploded in a fireball. The Brute driving the vehicle was incinerated instantly. Another explosion tore off the remains of the back of the vehicle. The wraith deactivated and fell onto the ground and lay there a burning pile of metal.

"Alright!" one of the marines exclaimed. "Now we can get to the Citadel!"

"WATCH OUT!" the marine on the warthog's turret exclaimed.

The machine chattered away as a wave of combat forms, all a mixture of Elite, Brute and Human, jumped off the side of the mountain to the ground around the vehicles. The marines on the tank and on the warthog fired at them, hitting and killing them. However, more just kept coming like an endless wave of death. The marine on the back of the mongoose fired a rocket at the side of the mountain. The shot exploded and threw a large number of combat form remains over the pathway to the ground far below.

Then, Eve, who had aimed the tank's cannon at the side of the mountain to fire on the Flood, saw something else on her holographic screen. It was a small cave at the top of the cliff. She pressed a small button on the control panel. The image zoomed in. Eve gasped.

Coming out of the cave was an endless wave of Flood. It was made up of combat forms, again a mixture of Brute, Elite and Human, carrier forms and infection forms as well as the terrifying huge monster-like forms and spider-like forms she and the marines and Elites had fought on Voi back on Earth. She had seen at least _two hundred _go by, and they were still coming. Three hundred! Four hundred! Five hundred! It could number a thousand. If that force of Flood got down here, they would all die! She had to stop them.

Wait a minute. Eve moved the screen's image up so she was facing the top of the cliff above the cave. There was a large group of boulders that looked very unstable. By the looks of it, they had been damaged when one of the comet-like things from _High Charity's _arrival crashed into the side of the mountain. In fact, there were even a few remains from the comet among the boulders. Maybe if Eve fired a hot at them, it would cause a landslide, or an avalanche. Any of those two was good, just as long as it stopped the Flood.

Eve aimed the cannon at the unstable boulders and fired. The shot soared through the air and struck the side of the boulders. Sure enough, as Eve had hoped, the boulders collapsed and fell down the side of the mountain. They dragged a large amount of snow and other unstable rocks with them. The resulting avalanche and landslide mixed wave fell in front of the cave, blocking it up, and smashed into the Flood. For a few seconds, the air was filled with the roars of dying Flood. Then, it was silent, save for the battle raging in the sky overhead.

The marines, who had just killed the last of the combat forms, cheered.

"Nice work, Eve," one of them said. "That should stop them."

"I hope so," Eve muttered under her breath.

Then a, shape began to descend towards the ground ahead of them. The marines, and Eve, who saw it on her holographic screen, looked and saw it was a hornet. The hornet touched down on the ground and the marine driving it opened the hatch and got out.

"Hey, Eve," he shouted to her. "Fancy driving? We need help clearing the air defences,"

Eve opened the hatch and climbed out of the tank.

"Will you guys be alright leading the attack?" she asked the marines.

"We'll be fine, Eve," the sergeant, who was sitting in the warthog's passenger seat, reassured her. "You go on, we'll wait for you at the bottom of the structure."

Eve nodded and climbed off the tank and ran towards the hornet.

"We need your help to get rid of these guys," the marine explained, pointing to the banshees battling the hornets overhead. "The Elites are gonna try and launch a counterattack to prevent any reinforcements from getting through or Truth escaping."

Eve nodded.

"Alright, let's go," she said.

The marine climbed onto the side platform of the hornet and placed his arm inside the hatch, which closed over it. Eve quickly looked over her shoulder to see the three UNSC vehicles drive down the path towards the ground at the bottom. She went to climb into the hornet's cog pit.

**BOOM! BOOM! **The ground shook violently, almost throwing Eve to the ground. She and the marine looked out at the plateau. Both gasped. One of the marines in the vehicles shouted "Jesus Christ!" They never thought this would happen.

The reason they were all shocked.

Standing out in the plateau was a large machine. A huge main section, four huge heavily armoured and mechanical legs, a large turret at the top of the main section and a huge cannon at the front. It was a scarab, and what was worse: There were _two_ of them. Oh God. This was not good. Not good at all.

This was really shocking, even for Eve. She had dealt with scarabs before, but not with _two _at once! This was really bad. The Brutes were really started to get desperate. Looks like may have finally met her match.

"_Ma'am?" _came the voice of a pilot from one of the hornets in the dogfight overhead. "_The Covenant have deployed two scarabs! Repeat, two scarabs!"_

"_We're requesting air support, over," _came the voice from one of the marines in the vehicles.

"_Negative," _came Mary's voice. _"All air support is either destroyed, disabled or rearming. You'll have to deal with this one on your own. Sorry marines,"_

The ground shook slightly as the eight mechanical legs of the two machines moved about on the ground. They were searching for a target, and with three UNSC vehicles on the ground, UNSC hornets and Elite phantoms in the air, they were not going to be short of one.

Then, one of the scarabs stopped dead as if it were frozen. It's cannon opened up, aiming directly at a parked hornet on a piece of rock. Directly at Eve.

She, literally, jumped into the seat and, not bothering to shut the hatch, started the hornet. The two large propeller-like engines spun round, throwing up a cloud of snow. Eve pulled back on the controls. The hornet hovered into the air. At the same time, the scarab fired a laser from It's main cannon. It flew underneath the hornet, missing it by a few inches, and hit the cliff behind the vehicle. The area of the cliff that was hit collapsed and fell onto the pathway, covering the rock the hornet had just been on in a landslide. Had Eve been a few seconds later, she and the marine would have been blown apart by the scarab's laser or, if they were lucky enough to survive the scarab's main weapon, buried under tonnes of rock. They were lucky to escape, but would it last the rest of the battle?

Eve flew the hornet into the air over the plateau. The two turrets on the top of the scarabs aimed up at the hornet and fired. Eve banked the craft left and right to avoid getting hit. Some of the blasts narrowly missed the craft. One came within just a few inches of the cog pit. That was a near miss, but Eve may not be so lucky next time.

Eve flew the hornet towards one of the scarab's top turrets and fired a few rockets at it. If she could destroy the top turrets on the two machines, it would be easier to try and disable the scarabs so she could board them and blow them up. The rockets hit the front of the turret, blowing off large chunks of the weapon. Each one blew off more of the armour and exposed more of the power core inside the turret. Finally, after about six rocket strikes, the turret exploded and fell off the top of the scarab to the ground below, landing with a loud crash. One down, one to go.

Eve turned the hornet towards the other scarab's top turret, which was firing on the UNSC ground vehicles around the legs of the craft. She fired three pairs of rockets at the turret. All hit and did a considerable amount of damage to the turret. The side of the turret was blown off, along with the back. It was still operational, however, after the sixth rocket, but only just. Maybe one or two more should do it. Eve pressed down on the button. Two more rockets were released and flew towards the scarab.

However, just as they were about to hit their target, the turret turned and fired a blast. The two rockets hit the turret and blew the remains of it off the scarab to the ground. However, the blast continued on through mid air, heading for one target. Eve's hornet. She saw it coming but before she could move…

CRASH! The blast struck one of the propeller engines of the hornet, blowing it off completely. A loud beeping alarm filled the room. Eve was thrown against the top of the hatch, her head striking it hard. She felt dizzy. Her vision began to fade. The hornet spun around it mid air but was heading towards the ground.

The last thing Eve saw was a spinning landscape outside the hatch.

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"Ugh!"

Eve awoke with a daze. What had happened? Where was she?

The controls to the hornet in front of her were smashed. She blinked a few times to get her vision back and looked at her surroundings. She… She was in the cog pit…of a UNSC hornet.

Suddenly, she shot up from her seat. Now she remembered. She had been firing rockets at the turrets when they were struck by a blast from one of them. The craft had been spinning and, by the looks of it, had crashed. But where?

Then, Eve saw a figure move outside the hatch. It was a marine. He seemed to be standing on some purple coloured pathway. There was a purple coloured wall to his right. Wait a second! Eve recognized the colour of the wall and the pathway. It was then she realised where they were.

They were on a scarab.

After being struck by the blast, the craft was heading directly towards the ground, but the scarab, as if by a miracle, had moved forward and the hornet had crashed onto the left pathway of the vehicle that went along the side of the raised section to the power core at the back of the machine. Although they had been spared crashing into the ground and the threat of being crushed by the legs of the scarab, Eve and the marine were still in danger. They were on the scarab, and patrolling on scarabs would be Covenant troops. They had to get off it quickly before they were trapped.

Eve tried to open the hatch but it would not budge. The hornet was lodged between the side of the raised section and the pathway. She tried pushing with all her strength but it would just not work. Great! How the Hell was she going to get out of this thing?

"There! Kill them both!" a deep voice shouted from outside the hornet.

Eve looked and saw the marine, with his battle rifle raised, facing the front of the pathway. A small figure lumbered into view. It was a Grunt. With it was a Brute in teal green armour. The marine fired a burst of ammo at the Grunt, hitting and killing it. Suddenly, another blast flew in from behind and struck the marine in the right shoulder. The marine yelled out and turned. Eve looked out through the other side of the hatch to see a Jackal and two Grunts standing at the end of the pathway. A burst of ammo exploded behind her and one of the Jackals screeched loudly and fell to the pathway floor, dead.

Suddenly, a small explosion erupted on the other side of the hornet. Eve looked and saw the marine fall to the floor, dead. The Brute was wielding a Brute shot, explaining the grenade shot she heard. He loaded another grenade into his weapon and walked toward the hornet. He could see Eve through the glass. She grabbed her pistol but it would not be enough to the kill a Brute.

"It is time you met your fate, demon!" the Brute growled.

He stopped about six feet from the hornet and aimed the weapon at the hatch. He placed his finger on the trigger.

Suddenly, a world around the hornet seemed to light up like the Sun. The Brute roared in surprise. Eve, who placed an arm over her eyes to block out the light, heard the two Grunts squeal loudly. What was going on? Had one of the Elites boarded the craft and thrown one of those sun bright power things? Or was it a marine?

Suddenly, the hatch window disintegrated. Eve tried to see who it was, but the light was very bright and made it hard to see anything even an inch in front of her. Then, she felt something grab her arm and lift her out of the hornet's cog pit. Oh no! It could be the Brute. However, this one must have had a jump pack as Eve felt herself ascend into the air.

Then, as if someone flicked a switch, the light turned off. Eve moved her arm from over her eyes. Another hand grabbed her other arm. She looked to see who it was.

Eve gasped. It was Wally.

"Y…You came back," she said.

Wally nodded.

"I changed my mind," he said. "I am sorry, Eve. I have been so oblivious to being on the Ark that I completely forgot my true purpose here. I do need to protect the Ark but, as you said, that can wait. I want to help you and your friends stop this Truth. I do not need the Ark. I need you,"

Eve sniffed and embraced Wally as tightly as she could. She did the same. He had finally seen what was more important. Just when Eve thought he was lost to this place, he came back. He would never leave her.

"Kill them both! Now!"

Wally let go of Eve and moved just as a grenade shot exploded right where they had been hovering. They looked down onto the pathway and saw the Brute and the two Grunts with their weapons raised up at them. The Grunts fired a few blasts, but Wally managed to avoid them. Eve raised her pistol and fired a few shots at them. One of the Grunts yelled loudly as it was hit and flipped backwards onto the pathway floor, dead. She fired a shot at the Brute, hitting him in the chest. The Brute roared in anger and fired a grenade shot up at them. Wally moved, narrowly avoiding the shot as it exploded a few feet from them.

"Wally," Eve said. "Fly to the back of the scarab. It's power core's there. If we disable it, the scarab will explode,"

Wally nodded and flew to the back of the scarab. Sure enough, the Brute realised what they were trying to do.

"Do not let them destroy the power core!" he shouted.

Wally placed Eve down on the back of the scarab and touched down next to her. Eve fired a shot at the remaining Grunt, hitting and killing it. The Brute aimed his Brute shot at her and was about to fire, but Eve beat him. She fired a shot hat hit his un-armoured hand. The Brute roared in pain as purple blood began to seep from the wound. He could no longer his weapon! However, that did not mean he could no longer fight.

"Wally, destroy the power core." Eve said to him, pointing to the small room that contained the power core. "I'll keep the Brute busy,"

Wally nodded and ran into the small room. He stopped a few metres from the enormous power core, which, like on the other scarabs Eve had destroyed, had a shield over it. He had never seen anything like this before. Aright, there was no time to start studying new things. He had to destroy it.

Eve was reloading her pistol when she saw the Brute throw his weapon down onto the pathway floor. He took off his helmet, revealing his bloodshot eyes and furious face. He looked like an angry bear. He was determined to kill the demon! Even if he could not fire a weapon, he was going to use his fists against her.

Suddenly, the Brute bent his head forward and charged towards Eve. He was beserking. Eve saw him coming and yelped loudly. She dived out of the way into the small room. The Brute ran on past her. He saw her move and skidded to a halt. However, he had been running too fast. The Brute fell over the end of the pathway and down towards the ground. He roared in panic, but it stopped abruptly a few seconds later.

As Eve stood up, a small fizzing explosion to her right caught her attention. It was the power core. It had been disabled. The blue light was beeping red and the shield was gone.

"Have I disabled it?" Wally asked Eve.

"Yes," she replied. "Alright, let's get off this thing, quick!"

Wally grabbed Eve under the shoulders and activated his anti-gravity boots. He hovered out from the small room into the air. When he was about seventy feet above the scarab, he turned and the two looked at the scarab. It had stopped dead where it was as if it was frozen. The beeping sound was now echoing throughout the machine. The light from the front cannon faded. The machine shook slightly as small explosions erupted inside it. Then…

**BOOM! **The scarab exploded, throwing large chunks of the machine everywhere. One of the legs crashed into the side of the Citadel structure and fell down the side and over to the cliff. It was amazing, however, to see, that not even a scratch mark was left on the building. Another large piece, part of the main section, was thrown across the ground and narrowly missed colliding with the legs of the other scarab.

Yes! That was one down. They just needed to destroy the other one and then they could begin the attack on the Citadel and Truth.

"_All units," _came Mary's voice from her ear radio. _"Concentrate all your fire on scarab number two,"_

Wally flew over to the other scarab, which was moving around with It's cannon aimed at the ground trying to shoot at the UNSC vehicles. It was perfect. The Covenant crew onboard the machine would be distracted in trying to stop the vehicles. Wally and Eve could easily sneak aboard and disable the scarab's core.

Wally placed Eve gently down onto the back of the scarab, outside the small room with the power core, and touched down next to her.

"I'll keep watch," Eve said to Wally, who nodded and ran into the small room.

He stopped a few metres from the power core and raised his left arm. A small hole on the front of the bulge opened up, revealing a dark silo. A red light began to charge up inside it. Then, a laser shot out of the silo at the power core. The laser easily broke through the shield and hit the power core. At once, the beeping alarm filled the room and the light on the front of the power core changed from light blue to red.

"Eve, the power core is disabled," Wally said as he ran out from the small room.

Suddenly, someone was thrown to the floor in front of him. It was Eve. She groaned as she got up.

"Are you alright?" Wally asked as he knelt down beside her.

Before Eve could answer, a laugh further up the pathway caught their attention. They looked and saw it was a Brute wearing dark blue armour and a dark blue helmet. In his hand was a Brute spiker.

"Prepare to die!" he said, placing his finger on the weapon's trigger.

Before he could fire, however, Wally activated the bulge on his arm and a bright light filled the air. The Brute roared and covered his eyes. With their enemy distracted, Wally grabbed Eve and hovered into the air away from the scarab.

"Thanks, Wally," Eve said.

"It is alright," he replied.

However, the two failed to notice the light fade on the scarab pathway. The Brute, who had moved his hands from his eyes, growled as he saw his two enemies flee fro the scarab.

"You are not escaping from me that easy," he growled.

He aimed his spiker at the two and fired.

Wally had hovered about sixty feet from the scarab. He stopped in mid air and turned.

"This should be a safe enough," he said to Eve.

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck Wally in the arm. He yelled out and fell towards the ground. Eve screamed and looked to see that an orange spike had driven deep into his upper arm. She tried to pull it out but it was stuck in there. The ground was getting closer. What was worse, they were falling towards the edge of the cliff. If they fell over the edge then that was it. They would both die.

The Brute on the back of the pathway laughed and lowered his spiker. He had done it. He had succeeded in killing both the demon and the traitorous oracle. He was going to be regarded as a hero to the Covenant for killing them and saving the Great Jour-

Huh? What was that beeping sound? They were coming from the small room. The Brute walked over to the small room and looked inside to see the power core's light now red and the beeping sound emitting from it.

"Oh no!" he groaned.

Wally and Eve crash landed on the floor and slid across the snow towards the edge of the cliff. Eve screamed and grabbed onto a small crack in the side of the cliff, as they went over the edge, with one hand and grabbed hold of Wally's hand in the other.

"Wally, are you okay?" Eve asked him.

"Argh!" he grunted as he grabbed the spike and pulled it out of his arm and threw it away. "I…I am fine!"

The wound quickly healed and the part of the suit that was torn stretched back over the wound, fixing the suit.

"My suit is still fixable like last time, Eve," he said as he hovered up to her and placed his hands under her shoulders.

**BOOM! **The other scarab exploded, throwing large pieces of metal through the air. A few large pieces crashed down over the side of the cliff, one passing within a few feet of Wally and Eve. Wally hovered towards the cliff with his back against it and placed Eve next to him, still holding onto her hand. A few more loud crashes erupted around them.

Finally, after a few seconds, the carnage ended. Wally peeked his head out from under the cliff line and saw the remains of the scarab lying across the plateau. A huge pile of rubble was lying near the edge of the plateau. That was, or had been the main section of the scarab with part of one of the legs.

Wally hovered out from under the cliff and set him and Eve down on the floor. They had done it. They had destroyed the scarabs. They had won the battle for the plateau.

"Thanks, Wally," Eve said.

"I am just glad to help," he replied.

He then noticed he still had Eve's soft and tender hand in his. Blushing, he let go.

"Sorry," he said.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Good work, marines." _came Mary's voice. _"Eve, meet up with the Arbiter at the top of the platform."_

Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and placed his hands under Eve's shoulders. He hovered with her over to the platform underneath the Citadel structure. As they approached it, an Elite phantom hovered down towards the platform and a figure hovered down from it to the platform. It was the Arbiter.

"_Wally found a way into the structure earlier on," _Mary said. _"Hurry,"_

When Wally reached the platform, he set himself and Eve down on it. Not far from them, about seventy feet ahead of them, was a door that led into the structure. That was their way in.

"Hurry, oracle," the Arbiter said. "Activate this bridge. We must get inside!"

Wally nodded and fired a blue laser from the bulge on his arm at the end of the platform. Almost instantly, a light blue, rectangular shaped haze began to form from the platform towards the door at the bottom of the structure. It quickly took form as a pathway. It was an energy bridge.

"If only we had more time, though!" Wally said in a slightly panicked voice. "We could have stopped the Flood from spreading!"

"We will, Wally," Eve reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We will deal with the Flood. But right now, Truth is all that matters. We have to stop him. We'll never get another chance. I will promise to help you deal with the Flood once we've dealt with Truth."

"Thank you, Eve," Wally replied. "I just hope you are right,"

"Hurry, you two!" the Arbiter said, ending their conversation. "I have been told the Flood are entering the structure. They are also determined to kill Truth."

As if awoken by this, Eve ran down the energy bridge towards the door. Wally and the Arbiter ran after her. The Flood were here as well and they wanted to kill Truth. Well, she was not going to let them! She was going to kill Truth! She had already promised herself that earlier and she was going to stick by it. No one else was going to kill him! Not even the Arbiter!

The three reached the door. It opened automatically for them, revealing a long rectangular shaped room, about seventy feet long, with dark green walls, a glass floor and many large pillars lined up against the wall. Along the wall were some large shield shaped, glass-like objects attached to the pillars. There was about seven along each wall and they were spaced about seven feet from each other. At the end of the room was a tall, narrow doorway that led to some small control panel with a blue laser coming out of the top of it and going through a tunnel in the ceiling. One the end walls of the room, leading to the doorway, was more shield shaped, glass-like objects, one on each wall.

"Where do we go from here?" Eve asked.

"To the lift at the end through the doorway," Wally answered. "Follow me,"

Wally ran ahead of the two towards the end of the room. Eve and the Arbiter followed him. However, when they were about half-way down the room, Eve suddenly stopped. The Arbiter noticed this.

"Evelyn, are you alright?" he asked her, causing Wally to stop as well.

"What is it?" he asked. "Eve, are you alright? What is wrong?"

Eve did not, or even could not, answer. Her vision was going blurry. She felt as if she were going to collapse. Then, a purple light began to form in front of her. It quickly took the form of a figure. Eve recognized it instantly. She had seen them before. It was Auto. His uniform was still torn and he stared at Eve as if he were in a trance.

"**It asked, and I answered." **he said. He looked at the floor and placed a hand on his other arm. **For a moment of safety, I loosed damnation upon the stars of our galaxy."  
**

Eve stared at him with wide eyes. Loosed damnation? What did that mean? What was he talking about?

**"Eve…" **Auto said. **"Eve…. Eve**…Eve,"

Eve gasped as Auto suddenly disappeared and her vision came back to normal. She looked around to see the Arbiter and Wally looking worryingly at her.

"Is everything alright, Evelyn?" he asked her.

Eve nodded and gripped her pistol tighter.

"Y-yes," she replied. "I just want to find Truth and kill him."

"What do you mean: You want to kill him?" the Arbiter asked her in a low voice.

"I want to kill him for revenge, Arbiter," Eve said, looking at the Elite. "I promised myself earlier that I would kill him and I will," 

Eve went to walk down the room towards the lift, but the Arbiter stepped in front of her.

"No," the Arbiter said, stopping her in her tracks and looking sternly at her. "I will kill him!"

"No you won't!" Eve replied, her voice rising. "I don't think you understand, Arbiter. I lost all my friends and comrades on Reach. I know you led the attack, thanks to records of the battle, but it was _Truth _who ordered it, who planned it! And as a result, I'm the only task force soldier left, which is why I want revenge, and I will get it. So, if you'll kindly move, I want to get up there and kill him!"

"No, Evelyn!" the Arbiter barked, making her jump but did not remove the look of anger still etched on her face. "I have suffered as well because of him. I lost my position in the Covenant and my race lost their honour and have also lost many because of his plan to destroy us! I want revenge as much as you do, but I especially want him dead! So I will kill him!"

"NO YOU WON'T!" Eve yelled.

It was the first time she had seen the Arbiter jump and even step back a pace. Eve pointed a finger up at him.

"I have suffered more than you have, Arbiter!" she hissed. "In case you haven't realised, you tried to kill me when you were still allies with your prophet! I don't care if your race suffered because of honour or a place in the Covenant; I've suffered more because I have lost friends! So I! Will! Kill! Him! Not! You! No, Arbiter! I've made up my mind. You'll have to live with it."

Eve walked past the Arbiter towards the lift. The Elite growled. He was not going to let a Human get the better of him. He had wanted to kill Truth for a long time as well. Eve was not going to take away his chance! He was going to kill him, even if her had to forcefully restrain her or stop her!

The Arbiter walked after her and grabbed her arm.

"Stop, Evelyn!" he growled.

"Don't try and stop me, Arbiter!" Eve half-shouted rounding on him and pointing her pistol at him. "I've made it clear! So will you just get into that thick skull of you-"

**"My faithful!" **

The two gasped. The Arbiter let go of Eve's arm and activated his energy sword. Eve raised her pistol and aimed it round frantically. They knew that voice very well. It was Truth's. But where was he?

Suddenly, the shield-shaped, glass-like objects lit up. On each of them was Truth sitting in his hover chair. He looked like a king giving a speech.

"**Stand firm!" **he said.

"We must hurry, he will activate the Array soon!" Wally exclaimed.

He ran down the room towards the lift. Eve and the Arbiter followed. As they approached the end of the room, Truth continued talking.

**"Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path! In a moment, I will light the Rings! And all who believe…shall be saved!"**

Truth moved his chair to reveal a Brute with dark red armour holding something up in front of him. It was a Human. Eve skidded to a halt and looked with horror in her eyes at one of the screen at the end wall. It was John. He had a black eye and a bruised face. He must have taken quite a beating. The Brute was holding him like a rag doll.

John swung his fist at the brute hitting him in the side of the jaw. The Brute growled and grabbed his arm and squeezed tightly. John yelled out in pain. Eve felt horror and anger rise through her. She had to stop him. She had to save him. She ran with the Arbiter and Wally through the doorway to the control panel.

"_Eve, how close are you?" _Mary's voice asked.

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter stopped at the control panel and looked up at the tunnel. Eve sighed and replied.

"Not close enough,"


	12. Final confrontation

**Meanwhile, in the Citadel's control room**

The control room of the control room was well over a hundred and fifty feet long. However, instead of being in a large circular shaped room with platforms hovering in mid air or a large hologram of a Halo ring or the Ark, it was a rectangular shape in the main section of the Citadel structure, which stuck out a few tens of feet over the edge of the cliff. Through the middle of the room was a very long pathway which had several barricade-like objects in areas along the sides of the pathway. Every sixty feet there was a small cube shaped building on the pathway, making it part of the pathway itself. There were two of them along on the pathway. Between them were several large curved barricade-like objects with bulges sticking out of them, which had been built onto the pathway. Sticking out of the top of them were large dark blue rings that were about twenty feet high and fifteen in with. There were three of them between the two cube shaped buildings on the pathway and two on both of the other sections of the pathway leading to both ends. Below the pathway was a large drop that led outside. If you fell over the edge of the pathway, then you would fall to your death.

At the right end of the pathway was a large doorway that led into a dimly lit square shaped room with a small circular hole on the floor in the middle of the room. A small blue laser came out of the hole and went up to the ceiling. (The laser was the only source of light in the room)

At the other end of the pathway was a small gap from the pathway's end to a large circular platform that hovered dead still in mid air. A large control panel was in the middle of the platform. It had a trapezium shaped, light blue button in the middle of the top of the control panel. On the wall about thirty feet behind them was a large triangle shaped window that showed a view of the colours of dusk. It was a great view but those in this room had not come here for the view. They had come here to begin their belief in the Great Journey.

Sitting in a hover chair near the control panel was Truth. He was examining the control panel with satisfaction. He was finally glad to be here. After a year of hard fighting and weeks of mercilessly killing the Humans and the Elites, they had finally arrived at the Citadel. Now they could begin the Great Journey.

It would have began earlier but it was there Truth realised that he needed a Human to activate the Array. So what did he have done? He activated a barrier to reveal his location and draw the rest of the Humans and Elites to his location, although, obviously, it was to also hold back the Humans and Elites once they had their prisoner. So, once Truth had heard of the Human and Elite joint attack on the towers, which one was he to send reinforcements to capture a Human?

The first tower was good but when word reached him that the demon was there, he quickly changed his mind. The second tower was no good because it was an Elite attack wave so the third tower, which had the largest force out of the attacks, was the only option left, but by some stroke luck, his forces had easily overwhelmed the Humans and captured a sergeant leading the attack along with three other marines, just in case any were killed and they would not have to go back and capture another Human. When they got the sergeant here, the Brutes executed the other three prisoners by throwing them over the edge of the cliff to their doom.

That sergeant they had captured was John. All they needed him to do now was activate the Array, but it was not going to be easy making him do it.

The Brute that was guarding Truth hit John over the head, adding to other injuries he had sustained on his face, and threw him to the platform floor. John grunted in pain, but he was not willing to give up and help Truth. He was going to do whatever it took to stop Truth from activating the Array, even if it meant coasting him his own life.

John, laying on his stomach, turned over, grunting in pain.

"T…That the best…you got?" he asked the Brute in a taunting manner.

The Brute gave him an amused huff before leaning forward and grabbing him round the neck. He held John up in front of him as if he were a rag doll and began to squeeze his neck. Slowly, but tightly.

"Argh!" John grunted as he placed his hands on the Brute and tried to stop him from strangling him, but it did not work. "Oh, come on!" he hissed painfully at the Brute. "Impress me,"

Truth, who was still examining the control panel, turned to see what was going on. He was not happy to see what the Brute was doing to John.

"Stop! You imbecile!" he growled. The Brute loosened his grip on John's neck but still held it. Even though he wanted to crush it into dust, he would not dare go against his holy leaders' orders. "He wants you to kill him!" Truth said to the Brute.

He turned back to face the control panel and held his hands together.

"I would prefer that you did not," he said quietly.

The Brute, John still in his grip, walked over to the control panel and threw him down onto it. Truth gave a quiet chuckle at this. John groaned as he lifted his head up from the control panel. The Brute grabbed the back of his head and slammed it down onto the control panel.

"What's the matter…Argh! Big shot?" John hissed at Truth as he managed to lift his head up from the control panel. "Can't start your own party?"

The Brute smacked his hand over the back of John's head, making him emit another moan of pain. Truth chuckled again.

_He still resists even though he is doomed_ he thought.

Truth leaned forward in his seat so his face was a few inches from John's.

"I admit," he said. "As much as I hate your race, I need your help." he leant back in his seat. "But that secret dies with all the rest,"

Whilst Truth was talking, neither him, John or the Brute guarding Truth noticed a large shape move outside the window

CRASH! The three shot round to see a pelican fly through the window. Glass was thrown across into the air and rained down on the platform. The pelican, however, continued on, landing on the platform and scraping across It's surface at a fast speed. Another Brute, armed with a spiker, that rushed up to see what was going on found him self in the path of the pelican. Before he could move, the pelican slammed into him. The Brute roared as he flew off the side of the platform and fell to his doom. His spiker was thrown out of his hand and landed near the left side of the platform, directly behind the pelican.

"What is this?" Truth, who had been thrown off his hover chair to the side of the platform, demanded.

His Brute guarding him groaned as he got up. He had a cut across his shoulder, where a large piece of glass had driven into it. Purple blood seeped from the wound. The Brute placed his hand on the wound to stop the flow of blood.

BANG! A burst of ammo exploded in the room. The Brute groaned in pain and fell backwards onto the floor, dead. Standing in front of him, at the back of the pelican, was Mary. She had a shotgun in her hands and a pistol attached to her belt around her waist.

"John!" she exclaimed as she ejected a shell from her shotgun. "Sound off!"

John coughed as he lifted himself up from the floor.

"G-(cough)-Get out-(cough)-of here!" he told her, drawing Mary's gaze.

"Not without you," she replied.

Suddenly, more large figures appeared at the front of the platform. More Brutes! They quickly spread out across the platform, forming a circle around Mary and John. She fired another burst of ammo from her shotgun at one of the Brutes as he walked towards her. His armour fizzed with green bolts of electricity and he was thrown sideways to the floor. However, the Brute shot back up onto his feet and continued to approach Mary. She backed away towards the side of the platform.

"You delay the inevitable," Truth said. "One of you _will_ light the Rings,"

Then, a shadow went across the floor. It was coming from behind Mary. She turned, her shotgun raised, to see a Brute standing behind her. She stepped away from him towards the pelican and whipped out the pistol from her belt, keeping the shotgun trained on the Brutes near John and the pistol on the Brute next to her.

"You may as well surrender," Truth said as he stood up from the remains of his hover chair. "You cannot hope to kill them all!"

Mary lowered her weapons. Truth was right. She had very little ammo, not enough to fight off a whole pack of Brutes. Her shotgun was empty anyway, no longer rendering it useful. She tossed it to the floor.

"Your right," Mary said as he looked down at her pistol.

It had only two shots left in it. Nowhere near enough to fight off the pack of Brutes, but it was useful for something else. She could use it to…

John grunted as he stood up on his legs. He had a small wound to his side. He placed a hand on it and limped towards Mary. She looked up at him. Their eyes met. It was as if John could read her mind. He knew what she was thinking of doing.

"D-do it!" he grunted. "Me… Then you…"

Mary raised the pistol, pointing directly at his head, and placed her finger on the trigger. Truth needed a Human to activate the Array. One that was alive. They were that were alive and that he could get to. So if Mary…

No! She moved her finger from the pistol's trigger. She could not do it. She just could not bring herself to shoot him. A look of sadness stretched across her face. She did not want to kill John. There was no doubt he would be thinking the same thing if he was in the same position as Mary.

Ever since they had first met shortly before Eve arrived on the _Cairo _planetary defence platform, he had, well… kind of looked after Mary. Kept her safe from harm. Kept her alive. Why was he doing this?

McCrea had told him to look after her. He had said this to him shortly before McCrea was taken away to be made into a Flood form. After John had arrived back on Earth, he had been the one who broke the news to Mary that her father had died. But… He had also comforted her. He had been there for her. Ever since then, they had grown closer together. Mary had regarded John as a close friend. A second father even. They had always worried about each other. Always hoping that through every new battle, the other would come out alive.

So was Mary going to shoot him? They had always showed an attraction to one another ever since they had met. That attraction was what Wally and Eve had.

They loved each other, but Mary had a choice for the most loving thing to do right now.

So what was Mary to do? Was she to shoot herself and John, though both will die they will have stopped Truth from activating the Rings? Or was she to lower her weapons and surrender he and John to Truth? They would have to activate the Rings, but at least they would live for a few moments longer for Mary to admit that she loved John. He probably wanted to do the same.

"M-Mary!…" John grunted. He gritted his teeth together and said one word: "Now!"

Mary raised her pistol up at him and placed her finger on the trigger. She was going to kill them. They would be together again very soon.

Two shots filled the room, echoing down it. A gasp followed. However, it was not a pistol that had fired the two shots, and it was not Mary who fired. It was Truth.

Mary dropped her pistol onto the ground and gasped in pain. She tried to speak but the pain was overwhelming her. Sticking out from her back were two large spikes.

"NOOO!" John yelled.

He rushed towards her. No! This was not happening! She could not be dead! She could not be! She would be alright! She would be alri-

One of the Brutes rushed forward and grabbed John, placing an arm across his chest to stop him from running. John struggled to break free of the Brute's grip but it was no use. His larger size meant he had more strength. John watched helplessly, feeling as if his purpose in life was taken from him, as Mary fell on her knees. Her and Johns' eyes met one more time. John looked at them as if they were saying one last 'I love you' before they closed and Mary crumpled onto the floor.

She was dead.

A figure walked up to her body. It was Truth. His legs were thin as sticks. It was amazing how they could support his body. Truth dropped a spiker onto the floor next to her body. It had fallen near him when one of his guard Brutes was knocked off the platform by the pelican.

"Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion," he said. "Steeled themselves for what needed to be done,"

Truth walked over towards John, who looked like he was going to beat the Hell out of Truth. The Brute had his hands over his shoulders to stop him. Even so, John still tried to break free. His anger was boiling over. Oh, if he broke free from the Brute, he was going to make Truth pay dearly for killing Mary.

"I see now why they left you behind," Truth said to John as he walked past him towards the control panel.

Truth stopped in front of the control panel. The Brute holding John pushed him over to the control panel and forced him forward slightly, almost slamming his head into the control panel.

"You were _weak_," Truth said to John. "And gods must be strong,"

Truth grabbed John's hand and pushed it down onto the trapezium shaped button.

At once, a loud charging sound filled the room. The edges of the entire pathway lit up a light blue colour for a millisecond before fading. Then, one-by-one from the platform to the other end of the control room, the Rings began to light up, all apart from the fourth. Truth raised his arms in triumph as if he were about to embrace his gods as if they were to appear in front of him.

He had done it. He had activated the Array. The 'Great Journey' had begun.

Meanwhile, in the room at the other end of the pathway, a small lift rose up, stopping when it reached the top of the hole. Three figures stepped off it. It was Eve, Wally and the Arbiter. Wally saw the activated Rings.

"Oh no!" he whispered loudly.

"What is it?" Eve asked him worryingly. "What's he done? Why are those Rings shining?"

"He has activated them," Wally replied. "He has activated the Rings."

"What you mean we're too late?" Eve asked him.

"Too late to stop him from activating them," Wally told her. "But it will take a few minutes for the Rings to reach their full power before they can fire. If we move now, we can still stop him,"

Eve nodded.

"Alright, let's go now," she said.

THUD ! THUD! In an instant, the Arbiter whipped out his energy sword and activated it. Eve raised her pistol. Wally gasped and hid behind Eve. Two of the enormous monster-like Flood forms had jumped down from the ceiling, landing in front of him. Wally had never seen these Flood forms before, and they scared him just as much as the Flood had done in the past.

Eve and the Arbiter readied themselves for the fight. They were going to push themselves to the limit to get to Truth, and they were going to deal with anyone who got in their way.

"**NO!" **a voice said from the creatures. Eve and the Arbiter recognized it instantly. It was Gravemind. **"Do not shoot, but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe!"**

Eve and the Arbiter lowered their weapons slightly. What! Gravemind was offering them an alliance? Okay, this had to be a trick or something. Eve closed her eyes and opened them again. The Flood forms were still there. As much as she dismissed it, this was real. Gravemind was offering her and the Arbiter an alliance.

Eve stepped forward towards the doorway. She kept her pistol ready, expecting the Flood forms to attack her. To her shock, they did nothing.

**"Only you can halt what **_**he**_** has set in motion!" **Gravemind said.

A slithering sound filled Eve's ears. Then, she felt something move by her legs. She looked down and gasped. It was infection forms. At least thirty of them. Then a few combat forms walked past her, halting at the doorway with the infection forms. None of them attacked her or the Arbiter or Wally. The three looked at each other with wide-eyes. As much as they were the enemies of the Flood, Gravemind was just as determined to stop Truth as they were. Even though it looked absolutely impossible, it was happening.

They were being helped by the Flood.

"**You shall lead the attack," **Gravemind said. **"I will safeguard you and your allies to him,"**

Eve nodded at one of the monster-like forms and turned to the Arbiter, who also replied with a nod.

"I think I shall stay…um, above the pathway to the end," Wally muttered to Eve as he walked up to her.

She nodded and the three walked towards the doorway. The final act of the war against the Covenant was about to begin. Whoever one this would decide the fate of the galaxy and every life form within it.

"Let's go," Eve said.

She and the Arbiter ran onto the pathway. Wally hovered up into the air, about fifty feet from the pathway and watched as the Flood moved past his two friends. The monster-like forms stood at the front. Behind them were the combat forms, which had Eve and the Arbiter with them. Then behind them were the infection forms.

Ahead of them was the first cube shaped building. Standing guard in front of it was a Covenant squad made up of a Brute in teal green armour, four Grunts and three Jackals. A Covenant plasma turret had been set up near the door that led into the building. They were the first targets.

"AAAHHHH!" one of the Grunts screamed, pointing at the approaching wave of Flood. "MONSTERS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The Brute whipped out his Brute shot and aimed it at the approaching Flood, but even he was scared.

"By the Rings!" he gasped. "The Parasite! KILL THEM ALL!"

The Brute fired a shot from his weapon at the Flood. It flew over head of the monster-like forms and the combat forms, but exploded on the ground where the infection forms were, killing three of them. The monsters-like forms charged forward, bringing their short arms up ready to attack. The Grunts, even with their squad leader, quickly screamed and fled towards the door. The Jackals quickly began to back away. Even the Brute was thinking of withdrawing to other Covenant forces further up the pathway.

Suddenly, the Covenant had overwhelmed them. One of the monster-like forms swung It's small arm at one of the Jackals. The creature screeched loudly as it was hit and flew over the pathway, falling to It's doom through the hole below. Two of the Grunts tried to flee through the door. However, a combat form spotted them and swung It's tentacle arm at them. One of the Grunts screamed loudly as it was hit and fell to the floor, dead. The other Grunt fired a blast at the combat form, but it had little effect. The combat form swung It's tentacle arm at the Grunt, hitting it and killing it.

"AAHH!" the Brute roared. "Fall back! Regroup with the rest of the force-AAAAHHH!"

Suddenly, three infection forms jumped onto the creature and ate away at his kin. Purple blood flowed as the infection forms burrowed into his skin. The Brute screamed and tire to stop them, but it was no use. Then, large growths began to force their way through the skin onto the body. The Brute gasped for breath and collapsed onto his knees. More growths appeared over him. One of his arms became a mutated tentacle. The Brute stood up from the floor, now one of the Flood.

_I really wish they would stop doing that. _Eve thought.

When the last of the Covenant squad had been killed, the Flood broke down the door leading through the cube shaped structure and ran through it. Eve and the Arbiter followed them through a small squared shaped room with lime green walls, floor and ceiling. There were Forerunner marking engraved into the wall. In front of both side walls was a hologram of Truth, which would soon disappear when they got to him. The infection forms moved up the side of the wall and went over the top of the structure to the other side. Wally, still staying well away from the fighting, hovered overhead. The Flood in the building broke down the next door leading onto the part of the pathway.

Ahead of them, apart from the next cube shaped building and more of the lit up light blue Rings was another squad of Covenant. It was made up of three Brutes, all wearing dark blue armour with dark blue helmets, ten Grunts, three of them wearing green armour and wielding fuel rod cannons, and seven Jackals. Like in the last part of the pathway, there were two plasma turrets set up in front of the doorway of the next cube shaped building. This Covenant squad was more spread out over this area of the pathway.

The Flood led the attack towards one of the Brutes, who was guarding the pathway, looking in the opposite direction of the Flood, with three Grunts sleeping nearby. Further up the pathway in front of the door, one of the other Brutes was tending to his weapon's ammo when he saw something big move near the other end of the pathway. He looked and saw it was the Flood.

"THE PARASITE!" he roared, pointing down the pathway.

The first Brute failed to realised the danger in time. One of the monster-like forms struck the Brute in the head, sending him over the edge of the pathway to his doom far below. The three Grunts sleeping nearby woke up with a scream and ran towards their comrades. The Arbiter and Eve, however, fired on them, hitting and killing two of them.

"Kill the parasite beasts!" one of the other Brutes shouted as the wave of Flood ran down the pathway towards them.

The three Grunts aimed their fuel rod cannons at the wave of Flood. Their first targets were the monster-like forms. If they could kill them, then the rest of the Flood wave would be an easy target. One of the Grunts fired a shot from It's fuel rod cannon at the monster-like forms, hitting one of them. The Flood creature let out a shuddering roar as it was hit and fell backwards onto the pathway floor, dead. The other monster-like form charged towards the Grunts, determined to kill them. The combat and infection forms, followed by Eve and the Arbiter followed them.

The Covenant fired a barrage of blasts and spikes at the approaching Flood. One of the blasts struck the new Brute combat form, sending it to the floor, fully dead. One of the infection forms moved onto the body and went to burrow into it to bring the combat form back to life. However, one of the Jackals spotted it and fired a blast at the creature, hitting it and causing it, along with another, to pop like a balloon.

Eve and the Arbiter charged into the fray as the combat forms and the monster-like form smashed into the Covenant. The Arbiter swung his energy sword at one of the Brutes, hitting him and throwing him to the floor, dead. Eve fired a shot from her pistol at one of the Jackals The creature screeched loudly as it fell to the floor, dead. She then fired on a Grunt that tried to man the plasma turret, killing it.

The last Brute in the squad swung It's spiker at the monster-like form, hitting it but doing little, apart from making the creature angry, which the Brute could tell by a loud growl it emitted. The monster-like form swung It's small arm at the Brute. He roared loudly as he was hit and thrown against the wall of the structure. Most of his armour was thrown off onto the floor. An Elite combat form ran up to the Brute and swung It's tentacle arm at it. Purple blood was thrown over the wall as the brute was hit and fell to the pathway floor, dead.

"AAAAH! LEADER DEAD! RUN AWAY!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed.

The last of the Grunts and the Jackals tried to flee through the cube shaped structure. However, the monster-like form blocked the way and swung It's larger arm at one of the Jackals who tried to get past it, killing the creature and throwing the body over the edge of the pathway. The rest of the combat forms and infection forms ploughed into the last of the Covenant squad, killing them.

The Flood, as usual, broke through the next door into the cube shaped structure. The rest of the Flood, Eve and the Arbiter ran through, breaking down the next door, onto the last part of the pathway. Ahead of them was the platform. They were very close to ending this battle, to ending this war.

Then, Eve caught sight of the pelican. What the? Why was there a pelican here? John was the only Human here as far as they knew. If it was not him, then why had the Brutes decided to bring a pelican with them? Wait, maybe they were holding more prisoners. If they were, then they had to save them, and fast!

**On the platform**

Truth, who had turned to walk back towards the remains of his seat, hoping that it would still work, heard the boom of the cube shaped building's door being broken down.

"What was that?" he demanded, looking back at the pathway.

It was then he saw the wave of Flood heading towards him. Among them, he could the Arbiter, and _her_. The demon!

"Stop the parasite!" Truth ordered. "Kill them all!"

The pack of Brutes, numbering three, ran forward onto the pathway Even though they were outnumbered, they were still going to fight to the death to defend their prophet.

"Destroy the energy bridge!" Truth ordered to his bodyguard.

The Brute, who was on the platform's side of the energy bridge, nodded and brought his weapon down onto it. The energy bridge flickered and faded. The pack of Brutes were now separated by twenty five feet of empty air before the platform.

"What?" one of the Brutes shouted, turning to see the bridge now deactivated. "Holy prophet, why have you left us here?"

Truth did not reply. Instead he looked terrifyingly at the wave of Flood as they came closer. The Brutes were also beginning to panic as well. The bridge had been disabled. It was too far for them to jump back to the platform. They were trapped!

"Re-activate the bridge!" one of the other Brutes shouted. "Re-activate it-AAAAAHHHH!"

The Flood attacked the Brutes when they reached them. Because they were on the edge of what had been an energy bridge, all three of the Brutes, one of them being killed by the Flood, fell over the edge of the pathway to their doom far below.

Eve and the Arbiter, pushed through the Flood, stopping at the edge of the pathway. She saw the deactivated energy bridge. She swore under her breath. The bridge was deactivated. They had to re-activate it if they were to get over the gap and kill Truth.

Then, the ten combat forms, that had survived the battle, jumped forward high into the air. They landed on the platform and began to attack the Brute. Eve looked around for a way to activate the bridge. She had to get to Truth before the Flood, and the Arbiter, got to him first.

Then, she found what could help her.

"Wally!" she shouted up to him, who looked down at her. "Get down and re-activate the bridge!"

Wally nodded and hovered down to the pathway. He fired a blue laser at the bridge. A light blue haze began to appear. After a few seconds, a new energy bridge had been formed.

"Hurry, it will deactivate!" Wally told Eve and the Arbiter.

The three ran across the energy bridge to the platform. Just as they reached it, the bridge deactivated. The infection forms and the monster-like form that tried to follow fell down towards the hole far below.

A loud fizzing explosion erupted in front of the three. They looked and saw the Brute with a gravity hammer in his hands. He swung the weapon at the combat forms, hitting three of them and throwing the remains over the edge of the platform to the hole far below. One of the remaining combat forms swung It's tentacle arm at the Brute. It hit the creature but did no damage, though it did make the Brute more angry. He swung his gravity hammer at the combat form, hitting it and throwing it over the edge of the platform.

Then, the Arbiter caught sight of a figure with a gold crown on the other side of the control panel. It was Truth!

"Truth! You are mine!" he shouted.

He went to run towards him, but the Brute swung his gravity hammer at the combat forms, blowing apart five of them and throwing two more to the platform floor near the energy bridge, fully killing them. The Brute then charged over to the Arbiter and brought his gravity hammer onto him. The Arbiter dived out of the way, narrowly missing being blown apart, and swung his energy sword at the Brute, hitting his gravity hammer. Both were now locked in a duel.

Eve saw her chance. She could finally get her revenge. She could make Truth pay for the pain he made her go through.

She ran past the pelican, Wally followed, hoping to get around the fighting Elite and Brute. Then, she noticed someone on the floor next to the craft. It was John. He looked really upset and looked as though he were trying not to cry. What drew Eve's attention was that Mary was with him. Why was John holding her head on his lap? More importantly: Why were her eyes closed?

"John," she said as she walked towards them. He looked up at her "What's wrong? Why do you have Mary in your la-"

She was cut off when she saw the two spikes lying on the floor next to him and Mary. As soon as she saw them, she knew. It hit her like a brick wall. Eve felt sadness run through her again. It was like she was hearing that her friends were dead again, or like whn McCrea died.

_No! _her mind prayed. _This can't be happening! Please God, no!_

Eve knelt down next to him and looked at John.

"Is she…?" she asked, praying for a no.

Sadly, it was not to be. John nodded. Wally knelt down next to Eve and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Eve," he said. "I am so sorry,"

She did not reply. The sadness of losing another friend had left her, only to be replaced by fury. No, fury was not the word. Rage.

"Who did it?" she whispered dangerously at John, who looked over at Truth.

Eve breathed a heavy breath through her teeth. An angry look came upon her face. Truth was going to **pay** for this! When she got hold of him, oh he was going to wish he had never been born! She was going to make him go through the worst suffering she could think off.

Eve stood up and walked towards Truth. He saw her approaching him. It was as if he could fell the heat of anger radiating off her because he fell to the floor and tried to move away but the panic seemed to be holding him place as if it was wanting Eve to kill Truth.

"W…what are you going to do to me, demon?" Truth asked.

"You call me the demon," Eve replied, grabbing Truth by his robe's chest and bringing him close to her. "So I will act like it. And the first one I'm sending to Hell is you!"

Truth gasped as Eve raised her pistol and placed the barrel against his head. All she had to do now was pull the trigger and all of this would be over. The war would be over. The 'Great Journey' would be over, and she would have avenged all the lives of her friends.

Eve went to pull the trigger.

Wait! Something stopped her. Truth was lucky as her finger was just mere micrometres from firing the pistol. What the Hall was this feeling she was getting? She just wanted to kill him and end all of this now. Eve went to fire again, but again she was stopped. What was going on?

_Would your friends have wanted this? _her heart seemed to ask her.

_Of course they would!_ her mind replied. _He killed all of them. He's even just killed Mary! He deserves to die!_

No. Would they have wanted you to kill him when he is just not worth it? 

_What do you mean he's not worth it?_

Would you be happy if you took your revenge?

Of course I would! I've wanted to kill him for a long time! Now I finally have the chance! 

_No! Stop! Think about this!_

Her mind and her heart were fighting over her action. What was she to do? Who was she to listen to? They were both part of her, but she could only listen to one.

So who was it she would listen to? Would she listen to he mind and take her revenge? Or would she not take her revenge and let him live? The choice was up to her.

But something had been arousing in Eve ever since she had wanted to get to Truth and kill him. Something that felt like it was stopping her, talking to her even, though she could not hear it because the hatred of Truth and the chance to kill him had overwhelmed her, but now she could hear it loud and clear as thunder. That thing was a question.

Would she feel any better if she killed him?

Would she? On one hand, she would have avenged her friends' deaths and she would not feel guilty anymore, and they could finally be at peace. On the other hand, she would still feel the same, and later on in her life she would probably ask herself; Have I felt any better by killing Truth? 

The decision was hers. She was going to decided his fate. She now took her mind and It's word and that question into account, but she still kept her finger on the trigger. Her mind continued to speak to her, but so did her heart.

_Eve, don't do it! You won't feel any better!_

Do it! He killed your friends and he's planning on killing every being in the galaxy! Shoot him!

No! Eve, you can still save yourself from further sorrow! Please! DON'T DO IT!

Don't listen to your heart! Listen to me! SHOOT HIM! DO IT!

Eve closed her eyes and moved the trigger down. Truth gasped and closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet to penetrate his skull and kill him!

It never did.

A second passed. Two. Was he dead? If he was, where was the gunshot?

Truth slowly opened his eyes to see Eve still standing in front of him and his robe in her hand, only her pistol was now on the floor.

"Y…You l-let me-live?" Truth asked her.

"I'm not going to kill you," she replied. "Your not worth it,"

Truth took in her words. Not worth it? What was that supposed to mean?

"What do you mean I am not worth it?" he asked her.

"Your not worth killing." Eve replied, still talking in a quiet voice. "You never have been worth it, and you never will be! Don't you see it, Truth? Nobody has won from this. This 'Great Journey', this quest to activate the Rings and destroy my race! What has it all been for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing? Billions from both my race and your coalition have died for nothing. And you would only lead yourself to your own demise if you had activated the Rings. You wouldn't be a God. You'd only be a carcass because you would have destroyed all life in an entire galaxy. For what? Nothing? And so, I'm not going to kill you," she concluded, letting go of his robe, causing him to fall to the floor, and kneeling down to pick up her pistol.

Suddenly, a loud fizzing explosion filled the air. Eve and Truth looked to see the Arbiter be thrown to the floor. He had a cut across the side of one of his mandibles. The brute he was fighting kicked away his energy sword and was raising his gravity hammer to bring down onto him.

"ARBITER!" Eve screamed.

The Brute shot his head in her direction. He saw her next to Truth, who was still lying on the floor.

"HOLY LORD! NOOO!" the Brute roared.

He charged towards her, raising his gravity hammer. Eve tried to run but tripped over her own feet. The Brute was getting closer! His weapon was raised.

"EVE NOOOOO!"

Suddenly, Eve was pushed out of the way by Wally. However, just as he pushed her out of danger, the Brute swung his weapon.

"WALLY!" Eve screamed.

CRASH! The gravity hammer hit him in the chest. Wally yelled out as he was thrown through the air and landed on the edge of the platform. He did not stand up or move after he landed. Eve rushed over to him and knelt down beside him. She grabbed his shoulders and shook them slightly.

"Wally, wake up!" she cried. "Please, wake up!"

"Kill them!" Truth ordered. "Continue to defend the Great Journey!"

"NOOOO!" the Arbiter roared.

He ran over to his energy sword, grabbed it and threw it at the Brute. The weapon sliced through the armour and into his back. The Brute roared in pain and dropped his gravity hammer. He grabbed the energy sword and pulled it out. Purple blood covered the ends. The Brute growled with anger, even though he was in a lot of pain. He turned towards the Arbiter and raised the sword to throw it at him.

Eve had to stop him. She rushed over to the Brute's gravity hammer, grabbed it and swung it with all her might at the Brute. The creature roared as he thrown through the and fell over the side of the platform. The energy sword flew out of his hand as the hammer hit him and the Arbiter caught it just as it was about to pass over his head.

That was it. There were no more Covenant. It was just them and Truth.

A stir behind Eve caught her attention. She turned and was overcome with joy when she saw Wally lift his head up from the floor. He was alive! Eve rushed over to him and embraced him tightly. Wally did the same.

"You saved my life," she said.

"Not the first is it," he replied.

The Arbiter walked up onto the platform. Truth had fallen over again on the floor. The Arbiter walked up to him.

"Arbiter," Truth said. "Can you see it? The moment of salvation is at hand."

The Arbiter grabbed him by the neck and turned him over to his face was looking at him.

"It will not last!" he said furiously, drawing Eve and Wally's look.

"You still do not understand, just like your kind," Truth said. "You never believed in the promise of the Sacred Rings,"

The Arbiter activated his energy sword. Just as he did, Truth, suddenly, gasped for breath. Not because the Arbiter was squeezing his neck hard, but because of something else.

A dark green cloud came out of his mouth and a small growth appeared on his cheek next to his mouth. Another appeared on the back of his head and a small tentacle came out of the middle of the growth.

"**Lies for weak!" **Truth said, though Gravemind was making him say it. **"Beacons for the deluded!"**

"No!" the Arbiter growled. "I will have my revenge! On a prophet! Not a plague!"

"My feet tread the path!" Truth said, grabbing hold of the Arbiter arm. "I shall become a God!"

Another growth appeared on the side of his face just under his eye. The on the back of his neck grew larger, as did the tentacle that stuck out a few inches from the growth next to his mouth.

"**You will be food! Nothing more!"**

Eve walked past them up to the control panel and rested a hand on the trapezium shaped button. At once, a loud droning sound filled the room. The pathway lit up a light blue colour for a millisecond again until fading. Then, the Rings, one-by-one from the other end of the pathway to the platform's end, turned off.

She had stopped the Array. Only just.

"NOOO!" Truth yelled.

He squirmed free of the Arbiter, falling to the floor in the process, and went to move towards Eve. Maybe he could force her hand onto it! Maybe he could still carry out the 'Great Journey'! However, the Arbiter grabbed him by the neck and clutched down tightly. Eve turned to face him.

"**I! AM! TRUTH! THE VOICE OF THE COVENANT!"**

The Arbiter clutched down tighter on Truth's neck.

"And so, you must be silenced!"

He thrust his energy sword through Truth, making it go clean through him. Truth screamed in pain. A dark green cloud came out of his mouth. The growths over his head disappeared. Then, Truth's eyes closed and he went quiet. That was it.

He was dead.

The Arbiter let go of Truth's body, letting it fall onto the floor with a loud thud. He let out a triumphant roar and deactivated his energy sword. He had gotten his revenge. He looked and Eve and she nodded at him and looked back down at Truth's body.

That was it. Truth was dead. The war was finally over.

"Thanks, Wally," John said.

Eve and the Arbiter looked over at the pelican to see John carry Mary's lifeless body into the pelican. Wally was standing outside the resting area. He looked over at Eve, who was silent and had a sad look on her face. Wally walked over to her and gave her a hug. Eve returned the compliment.

"Evelyn," the Arbiter said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry," 

Suddenly, the platform began to shake slightly. Eve and Wally let go of each other and were alert. So was the Arbiter, who activated his energy sword. What was going on?

Then, a large tentacle shot up from below the platform. Another followed, then another, and another, and another. Soon there were at least eight huge tentacles moving about from underneath the platform.

Then, a loud, shuddering laugh filled the air. It was Gravemond. What was he doing? Why was he bringing up his tentacle-Wait. He was stopping them. John had walked back into the pelican, which meant he might be able to get it working again. So Gravemind was stopping them. In other words, he was betraying them!

The roar of a few engines filled the air. Eve, Wally and the Arbiter looked to see the pelican hover into the air. John was in the cog pit. He turned the craft and flew towards the smashed window, narrowly avoiding the tentacles. Eve ran over to the back of the resting area and jumped on. She held out a hand for the Arbiter, who ran over and grabbed it. Wally hovered into the resting area and held out another hand for the Arbiter, which he took. Now they had to pull him in.

SMASH! A small tentacle rose up and slammed into the side of the pelican. Eve, Wally and the Arbiter were thrown off the craft onto the platform floor. The pelican flew out of the window, spinning in mid air. It spun round right, disappearing from sight.

"**Now the gate has been unlatched. Headstones pushed aside!" **Gravemind said.

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter stood up. Eve raised her pistol. The Arbiter activated his energy sword. The three stepped back into a small circle until they hit each other.

"**Corpses shift and offer room. A fate you **_**must **_**abide!"**

The tentacles moved in towards the three. Eve and the Arbiter readied themselves for battle. Wally grabbed hold of their hands in case they needed to fly away.

"We trade one villain for another," the Arbiter muttered to them exasperatingly. 


	13. Installation 04B

**Date: April 23****rd****, 07:01am Earth time. 19:00pm Ark time. **

**Location: Ark control room, Structure 00, Ark world core**

Exactly one minute ago, in the control room of the Ark's main Citadel, the very place built by the Forerunners to activate the Halo Array, a long and devastating war between Humanity and a coalition of alien races, known as the Covenant, had finally come to an end.

Over the past few weeks, the Covenant had suffered defeat after defeat in many battles against Humanity, and it was all because of their super soldier, Evelyn Knight. As she was the last member of a taskforce of super soldiers, she had struck heavy blows against the Covenant. Eventually, she became an ally of the Elites, who had once been in the Covenant but the Covenant high prophet Truth had betrayed them and ordered a mass execution of all Elites in the Covenant.

However, Truth had gotten more than he bargained for. After fleeing Earth to the Ark, with Human and Elite forces, who had now joined together in their war against Truth, in pursuit, he had tried to activate the Halo Array with a captured Human. However, Evelyn Knight had stopped him with the help of the Arbiter, a monitor, who had once lived on one of the Halo rings before it was destroyed, called Wally and the Flood, the one enemy the Covenant and Humanity truly feared.

The Flood had joined forces with Eve and the Arbiter out of desperation, much like the Human and Elite alliance. After clearing through the last of Truth's forces, the Arbiter had finally killed Truth, bringing the war to It's long awaited end. However, it did not come at a price. Mary McCrea, the commander of the Human forces in the attack, was killed, having been the last Human to die in the war with the Covenant.

Then, the Flood suddenly turned on Eve and the Arbiter. They, along with Wally, had been trying to escape on a pelican, piloted by sergeant John when the Flood's leader, Gravemind, had smashed the craft with his tentacle, knocking the three off the craft back onto the platform floor. Now, he was going to kill them.

The three were in a circle with their backs to each other. Eve and the Arbiter had their weapons out, ready for the battle with Gravemind, who still had his tentacles in a circle around the platform, ready to strike at his enemies. Wally was panicking. They would be killed! Worse: They would be made into one of the Flood. Oh, God. That was a fate worse then death itself.

Suddenly, Gravemind's tentacles, as quickly as they came, descended below the platform. Eve, the Arbiter and Wally were really confused. Why had he just tried to kill them then retreated all of a sudden?

A loud growl caught their attention. The two looked in the direction of the control panel and saw two mutated figures standing at the ends of the control panel. Combat forms. There was no doubt they were preparing for an attack.

Suddenly, both of the combat forms jumped into the air towards them. Wally yelled out and hid behind Eve. She raised her pistol and fired two shots each at the combat forms. Both were hit and fell to the platform floor in front of them. The Arbiter then swung his energy sword into them, breaking their bodies apart, just to finish them off.

"_I can barely keep hold of her, Eve," _John's voice said from her ear radio. _"No way I can pick you up! Head back to the lift. Try and find a way down!"_

Eve nodded to John's words. She turned to the Arbiter and Wally.

"Looks we're going to have to fight our way out of here," Eve said.

"Let us move quickly then," the Arbiter replied. "There is no telling how many more of those beasts are coming towards us!"

The three ran around the control panel to the front of the platform. Wally fired another blue laser down onto the edge of the platform, re-activating the energy bridge again. The three ran across it back onto the pathway, only just getting off the energy bridge in time as it deactivated.

_ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!_

Eve looked ahead of them and saw a wave of Flood running towards them. It was a mixture of Elite, Brute and a few Human combat forms. Wally gulped loudly.

"Wally, head to the other end of the pathway and try and…distract them or hold them off," Eve said to him.

"But what if they get hold of me?" Wally asked her in a panic-stricken voice.

"Wally, just do it!" Eve half-shouted in reply. "We don't have time to mess around. Go. We'll meet you at the other end!"

Deciding it was best to listen to Eve and not argue, Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered up into the air and flew towards the end of the pathway. A few blasts flew up at him, but, thankfully, all missed. Eve and the Arbiter watched him become almost a dot as he flew away from, as if he were shrinking the further away he got.

A loud growl ahead of them caught their attention. They looked ahead of them and saw it was a monster-like Flood form, charging up the pathway straight towards them. The Arbiter charged forward and swung his energy sword at the creature. The monster-like form let out a loud growl and fell to the pathway floor, dead.

"We must move quickly," the Arbiter said to Eve. "More of them are coming,"

Eve followed the Arbiter as they ran down the pathway towards the first cube shaped building. They ran through the broken down door and through the square shaped, lime green coloured room onto the next section of the pathway.

_ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a mass of a golden brown descended upon them. Three large combat forms, all of them Brute, had been waiting on the top of the cube shaped building to jump onto Eve and the Arbiter when they came through the doorway. Their plan had worked. Now they just had to kill them, which they could have easily done as one of them had their tentacles wrapped around the Arbiter's arm with the energy sword. One of the others was wrestling with Eve. The last walked towards the Arbiter, brining up It's tentacle arm. It was going to strike him. If that arm hit him, he would be killed!

"Evelyn! Take my sword!" the Arbiter exclaimed.

Eve punched the Brute combat form she was wrestling with in the face. The creature growled and staggered backwards. She grabbed then Arbiter's energy sword and swung it at the combat form holding her friend captive. The creature broke apart and the remains fell onto the pathway floor. She then swung at the combat form that was going to kill the Arbiter, breaking that one apart completely as well. Eve then swung her energy sword at the last combat from, killing that one as well.

"Thank you, Evelyn," the Arbiter said.

"It's okay," Eve replied, handing him back his energy sword. "We better keep moving,"

The two ran down the pathway towards the next cube shaped building. However, when they were about twenty feet from it, a large swarm of ten infection forms dropped from the ceiling onto the pathway in front of them. They moved across the floor towards the two, intent on infecting them and making them part of the ever growing Flood army. Eve, however, raised her pistol and fired at the infection forms. The bullet hit one of them and caused it to explode like a balloon. Most of the other infection forms quickly followed the same fate, leaving only one left, which Eve killed by firing another shot at. The two ran on.

When they reached the last cube shaped building, the Arbiter jumped up and grabbed hold of the ledge, moving his legs up the wall at the same time, and pulled himself onto the top of the cube shaped building.

"I will not let them surprise us again," he said to Eve before running on, disappearing from sight.

Eve ran through the cube shaped building to the other side. Whilst she was in the shape squared, lime green coloured room she saw that the holograms of Truth had disappeared. If any Covenant were to come here and try and find their holy leader, taking one look in here to see the holograms gone would already tell them the truth. He was gone, and these holograms of him would never be activated again. They were gone like death had come and taken them away forever, never to be seen again.

Eve ran out onto the last section of the pathway. She gasped at the sight in front of her.

There was an enormous wave of Flood in front of her. Loads of them! There must be at least thirty, maybe forty combat forms, all mixed, ten, maybe monster-like forms, a few carrier forms and there were even some of those weird spider-like Flood forms. Eve also saw a few infection forms among the Flood. At the moment, they were focused on Wally, who was hovering about thirty feet above the pathway. Some of the combat forms had weapons and were firing up at him. He was flying sideways to avoid getting hit.

A loud thud erupted next to Eve. She looked and saw the Arbiter standing next to her. His eyes were wide with shock. He too was just as breath taken as Eve at the presence of this amount of Flood.

"We will not get through this wave of Flood," he said.

He was right. If they tried to get through this wave of Flood, they would be cut to pieces. They had to find a way to get past them. Eve looked at Wally. He looked like the only solution to their problem.

"Wally! Help!" Eve shouted.

Although she caught his attention, she also attracted the attention of the Flood. One of the monster-like forms, along with two of the spider-like forms, ran up the pathway towards them. Eve raised her pistol and fired at them. However, the bullets from a pistol did little damage. The Arbiter would not be able to kill all three of these forms as well. It looked like they were done for.

Suddenly, two hands grabbed them and lifted them into the air. Just in time as the monster-like form swung It's enormous arm at where they had been standing, hitting the wall and leaving a small dent in it. Eve looked up and saw Wally holding onto their hands.

"Thanks, Wally," Eve said, in a relieved tone.

Before he could reply, a combat form jumped into the air and swung It's tentacle arm at them. It narrowly missed Eve's head. The combat form, however, had jumped too far from the pathway and fell down past the edge of the pathway to the hole far below.

Wally placed them down at the small room at the end of the pathway and touched down next to them. Sure enough, the wave of Flood charged up the pathway towards them.

"Keep them distracted!" Wally said to Eve and the Arbiter.

He knelt down to the floor, where the pathway connected to the side of the room, and activated some kind of blue sword from the top of his bulge and began to cut through the end of the pathway. Amazingly, the sword cut through the metal as if it were paper. Within a few seconds, Wally was almost half-way down the end of the pathway.

Suddenly, a combat form, that had overtaken the rest of the wave of Flood, charged towards them. The Arbiter jumped over Wally and swung his energy sword at the creature, slicing it in two and throwing the remains onto the floor. Another combat form tried to attack him followed the same fate as the Arbiter struck it with his sword, breaking the creature apart and throwing the remains to the floor.

Just then, Wally's sword had reached the end of the pathway. At once, a loud grinding sound filled the air. The pathway began to shake slightly. Eve and Wally ran forward and grabbed the Arbiter and pulled him off the pathway. Some of the Flood continued after them, determined to kill them or take them with them if they were going to die.

SNAP! The end of the pathway snapped from the side of the room. The entire pathway, not the first section but the _entire_ pathway, fell from the side of the room to the hole far below. The Flood on the pathway roared loudly as they fell but within a few seconds, the noise had faded and the pathway had disappeared into the clouds far below the cliff line.

Wally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Forerunners," he said. "We are safe."

"Now we just have to get out of here," Eve piped up.

She ran over to the control panel on the lift and rested a hand on the light blue circle. However, the lift did not move. She tried again. It still did not move. Was it broken? Maybe the Flood had disabled it.

"Wally, the lift's not working," Eve said.

He and the Arbiter ran over. Wally fired a blue laser from the top of his bulge at the control panel.

"Now try it," he said to Eve.

She did. Again it did not work.

"The Flood must have disabled It's inner circuits," the Arbiter said. "We must find another way out,"

He scanned the room, hoping to find another way out of the structure. Within a few seconds, he found it.

On the back wall of the room was a small hole that led into a tunnel. Maybe that led to a way out. Wait, what if it also led to more Flood? If it did, then they were going to be stuck here for a while longer. But it was better then waiting for them to come and attack them. It was best if they fought them as they tried to escape.

"This way," the Arbiter said, pointing to the tunnel.

"I must quickly go and check if any of the structure's other systems have been disabled," Wally said to Eve. "I shall meet you down there,"

He hovered into the air towards a sent-like hole on the wall near the ceiling. He flew into it and disappeared.

Eve and the Arbiter ran forward towards the hole. Eve jumped into it first; the Arbiter followed.

THUD! THUD! Eve and the Arbiter landed in a long corridor with a glass floor, silver coloured ceilings and pillars lined along both walls. The left end of the corridor was a dead end. The right had two turnings; one led left, the other right.

Eve looked down the right end of the corridor.

"What the…?"

Okay, she could have sworn she just saw something move! It sounded weird but it looked like Auto, though in his small avatar form then his six foot four height as he normally had been when Eve had seen him the last few times. If she had seen him, he had ran down the left turning at the end of the corridor. Eve walked down the corridor towards the left turning.

"What is it, Evelyn?" the Arbiter asked.

She did not reply, she just walked on down the corridor and turned left. Ahead of her was another corridor with a glass floor, silver coloured ceiling and pillars along both walls. It was too dark from about half-way down the corridor onwards for Eve to see.

Then, she saw it again. It was Auto! He was still in his seven inch high avatar. He appeared about half-way down the corridor and turned to face Eve. He moved his arm through the air towards himself. It was as if he was trying to say: _C'mon this way_

Eve obeyed him and walked into the corridor. However, just as she did, Auto disappeared. Eve halted where she was for a second but decided to go on. Maybe there was something down here he was trying to tell me about, but what was it?

"What do you see, Evelyn?" the Arbiter asked as he walked into the corridor.

Eve, again, did not reply. She just walked on in her trance-like state.

Suddenly, she was stopped by something. It was a strange shaped object. Suddenly, it lit up and the sound of large metal moving filled the air. It was coming from ahead of her. Eve looked and saw a large blast door opening in front of her. The last few rays of light from dusk flowed into the room. The Arbiter walked up next to Eve and looked out through the hole in front of them.

Ahead of them was a cloud covered sky. The sky had turned an orangey/yellow colour. Dusk was coming to an end. Soon the night would draw in.

Then, eve's eyes rested on something moving among the clouds. She looked and saw it was some kind of enormous metallic wall. It was rising out from underneath the clouds! It was huge. Well over a hundred miles high and looked to be almost two, maybe three or four, or even five times as long. Eve looked both ways and saw the wall continue on. It was endless.

Then, she saw two turning at both ends, both leading in the same direction: Ahead. Eve and the Arbiter were wide-eyed as they watched this thing rise up out of the clouds. It must have been a circle shaped ship or something, but what opposed eve's idea of it being a ship was that there was nothing in the middle of the wall. It was just empty sky. If it was not a ship, then what was it?

Then, Eve saw an Earth-like landscape on the inside of the circle structure. She had seen it before. It was the same type of landscape she had seen on… A Halo Ring. This was a new Halo ring! Wait, why was a new Halo ring being created? Only seven were needed to wipe all life in the galaxy and there were… Six! There were six because she, Auto and Wally had… They had destroyed one of the rings, or Installation 04 as Wally and the Forerunners called it. This was a new fourth Halo Ring! 

The new ring rose up in front of the hole. Even though it was at least a few miles away, it looked as though it was right in front of the hole. Eve and the watched as the ring rose up in front of them, as if it were an endless wave of rising metal.

"A replacement," the Arbiter said. He looked at Eve. "For the Ring you destroyed,"

Eve looked at the Arbiter.

"When did you know?" she asked.

The Arbiter was dumbfounded. What? He did not know! Why was she asking him?

Then, a figure touched down next to them. It was Wally.

"Just now," he said, answering Eve's question. "But, I did have my hopes." he activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered a few feet from the two before turning to face them. "What will you do?" he asked them.

"Light it," Eve answered.

Wally smiled.

"Then we are agreed," he said in a cheerful voice. "A tactical pulse will eradicate the local infestation! I will oversee the final preparations for the ring. Though, it will take some time to fabricate the activation Index. That is our only problem,"

"Don't worry, I know a way to solve that," Eve said to him. "We'll meet you on the ring,"

He nodded and turned and flew out towards the ring. Very quickly, he became a small dot and disappeared. When Wally had disappeared from sight, the Arbiter turned to face Eve.

"You plan to light it?" he asked her, making sure what he had heard was true.

"Yes," Eve replied, facing the Elite. "Though, I'm worried that this could go wrong somehow. I'll have to come to that later,"

"How do you plan to light it?" the Arbiter asked her.

Eve answered by looking past him right. The Arbiter looked at where she was looking. Both had their eyes rested on the same thing.

Far away, at least a thousand miles away, maybe a little more, was the once place no one would ever dream of, or would ever wanted to be in. Even though it was now mostly ruins, it was still as dangerous as it had been when it was not ruins.

Flood infested _High Charity_. 


	14. Fight through High Charity

**Two hours later **

It had been a hectic two hours for the UNSC and the Elites. Although Truth was dead and the Covenant was pretty much defeated, they still had to find survivors scattered all over the Ark. So far, they were doing well as more Humans and Elites were being brought back onto the _Shadow of Intent_.

News of the death of Truth and the defeat of the Covenant had sparked relief and such a joy of celebration never seen before. The people of Earth and the few surviving colonies were finally happy to be safe, knowing that the enemy that had tried to destroy them was finally gone. Some of the Elites and UNSC soldiers, however, were now willing to return home to be reunited with their families and friends.

However, for one Human, there was no celebration yet.

After the death of Truth and discovering that a new Installation 04 Halo ring had been built, Eve and the Arbiter had headed back to the _Shadow of Intent_. There, she had explained the plan to John and Vadumee, having already told the Arbiter what she wanted to do to destroy the Flood on the Ark, and then, with Vadumee's order, had piloted a banshee and flown out from the carrier towards the ruins of _High Charity_, what had once been the Covenant holy city and capitol.

After about forty minutes of flying, Eve had covered quite a distance from the carrier to being at least a quarter of the way over the city's remains. What she needed was a large hole that led into the city where she could land and begin the search for the one other friend she still cared about, and that she had a promise to fulfill to.

Auto. She had promised him, when the Flood were overwhelming the city, that she would come back to _High Charity _for him. Now she was going to make that promise come true. However, she was taking a _very _big risk. The Arbiter, John and Wally needed her to carry out this plan of hers. If she was killed, then there would be nothing to stop the Flood from spreading from the Ark.

What was worse was the risk on her own life. Eve had fought through Flood infected structures or areas on Halo or the Ark and even on Earth, but this was a city. A Flood infested city. This was no longer a small infestation; this was…oh how to put it, the home world of the Flood in this galaxy. She was going directly into their lair. She knew very well that she could well and truly die in here and never be recovered. She was putting the entire plan at risk as well as her own life.

Still she went on. Eve had made a promise to Auto, and she was still going to keep it, even if it meant sacrificing her own life. Even though she had very little chance of recovering Auto and getting out of there alive, that was not going to stop her.

The Arbiter and John had both volunteered to go with her, but Eve had told them that she did not want their lives to be put at risk by this mission. She had told directly that this was _her_ mission and _her_ promise she had to fulfill.

Eve's banshee flew around one of the many spire towers that stuck out from the city. Each one was at least a few hundred feet tall and almost as long in width. From Eve's point of view in her banshee, it looked like some kind of wasteland as the enormous growths and metal mixed together made the surface of the crash site look like some kind of barren world where nothing would survive, much like the legendary No Man's Land from the trench warfare of World War One, only this time it was not being fought between two opposing armies over a few hundred yards of Earth, it was between one lone Human super soldier and a never ending army of monsters determined to conquer the galaxy.

After a few minutes, Eve finally found a large hole in the ground. It was large enough for at least two pelicans to descend through and leave enough space for a banshee between them. Eve descended the banshee towards the hole. As it came closer she could see, through her holographic screen, that the inside of the hole was covered in a lighter golden brown than the outside. There were also a few platforms along the walls. No doubt they had probably been the walls themselves before the growths took their place.

As Eve descended into the hole, Eve flew the craft onto one of the platforms and touched down on it. She opened the banshee's hatch and climbed out. The air smelled of something rotting. It was horrible, but Eve had gone through it enough so she was used to it. There were many different passageways on the walls. Some on the walls on the floor whilst others were almost on the ceilings surrounding the entrance into this part of _High Charity_.

Just then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"_Eve," _came John's voice. "I'm still rounding up our survivors and taking 'em back to the _Dawn_. The Arbiter's doing the same with the Elites."

Eve stepped forward on the platform to give her a better view of part of the room, which went right through a tall but narrow passageway, which made it look like some kind of small valley or canyon. A small pop below her foot caught her attention. She lifted up her foot to see Flood biomass over the sole of her boot.

_Nice. _Eve thought, grimacing as she lowered her foot.

"_Auto's in there somewhere," _John continued. _"Good luck. And…stay safe, Eve,"_

Her ear radio turned off. John's voice was gone. Eve was already thinking it would probably be the last she would ever hear.

She walked back over to her banshee and took out a small weapons belt and clamped it round her waist. She reached into the banshee and took out a plasma rifle and clipped it to the side of her belt. She then reached back into the banshee and took out an M90 shotgun and checked if it was loaded. It was

She was going to have one hell of a fight ahead of her.

Eve jumped down from the platform to the biomass covered floor, which was about a ten foot drop. She walked through the passageway to the other side. There were several large pieces of metal sticking out through the biomass. They were the last few sign that this place was once the Covenant city. Now, however, the Flood had come like an apocalypse and swept away any sign of life, and almost certain any hope of this place being returned to It's former glory.

Eve came out of the passageway into a large room that had biomass walls with a slight turning that led left. She kept her weapon raised in case any Flood tried to attack her, which she expected would happen very soon.

Then, something on the wall, above a control panel that looked like it had been forced into the biomass wall, moved. Like an alert deer, Eve aimed her weapon at the wall and kept her finger on the trigger, ready to fire on whatever it was that moved in case it was Flood.

What she had seen move was a large shifting bulge that moved about as if it were alive. She could see several small shapes move within the bulge. It was one of those things that held infection forms. She had had a close encounter with one of these things on the CCS battle cruiser that crashed at Voi on Earth. It was best if she left it alone.

Eve walked on down the room and around the left turning. Suddenly, she stopped dead.

On the end wall ahead of her was some kind of circular green shield-like thing that seemed to shift like the bulge she had just seen on the wall. On the front of this object were several dark green patches shaped like dagger tips. It looked like a door but Eve knew that with the Flood, some things that looked like doors were actually part of the wall or even living things. Did she dare go near them?

_It's better than nothing_. Eve thought.

She stepped towards the shield-like object.

Suddenly, everything in the room seemed to move further away from her. Her vision was fading and she felt like she was going to collapse. Then, a shuddering voice, that would have bested the Devil, filled the air.

"**Child of my enemy, why have you come?" **It was Gravemind. **"I offer no forgiveness; one generation's sins passed on the next."**

Then, as quickly as it came, Gravemind's voice faded away. At once, everything in the room went back to It's normal position. Eve's vision went back to normal and she no longer felt as if she were going to collapse.

Now she was worried of something else. Gravemind was here. That was not good. He could easily order Flood to surround and kill her. What she was more worried about was Auto. Gravemind had had him in his grasp for the last few days and was making him suffer. He could easily kill him if he wanted to. Eve had to get to Auto quick.

She walked on towards the shield-like object on the wall. When she was about ten feet from the shield, it shifted, making a noise that sounded like the roar of a distant monster. Then, the patches split apart and moved into the wall. They looked like the teeth of a monster, adding to the sound of it making a noise like one. Eve breathed a sigh of relief and ran through the doorway.

She found herself in a large dome shaped-like room with a raised section of floor made entirely out of Flood biomass. The raised section of floor looked like a small hill. A small pathway at the left end of the raised section led onto the hill. On the left wall in front of her was a large hole that had several pillars of biomass growth going from the top of the hole to the bottom, leaving small gaps between each pillar. At the other end of the room were several passageways leading into the biomass walls. Like in the last room, there were several large metallic objects sticking out of the biomass walls and floors. There was even a large metal object sticking out of the ceiling. The biomass had small weed-like growths were growing over the sides of the object. Even though it looked stable, the object looked like it was going to fall from the ceiling to the floor.

Eve walked into the room towards the pathway that led onto the hill. She kept her finger on her shotgun's trigger. Hearing Gravemind's voice had alerted her and now there was a strong chance any Flood in the area would come and attack her.

_ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a wave of large figures appeared out from behind the crest of the hill and ran towards her. They were Elite combat forms. Eve saw them and fired a burst of ammo at them. One of the combat forms was hit, having one of It's tentacle arms shot off, and fell backwards onto the hill, dead. Although one was down, there were many more to take It's place. Eve cocked her shotgun and fired another burst of ammo at the combat forms, hitting and fully killing another combat form.

Suddenly, the rest of the combat forms jumped into the air towards Eve. She dived left out of the way, narrowly missing a strike from one of the combat forms as it swung It's tentacle arm at her. Eve quickly shot up from the ground and fired another burst of ammo at the combat forms. Another of the combat forms fell to the floor, dead. The rest charged towards Eve, bringing back their lethal arms for another strike at her. She ran towards the pathway and jumped onto it and ran up the hill. The combat forms chased after her.

Suddenly, a wave of green spikes flew towards Eve. Most missed but one of them struck her shield and almost went right through her suit. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the meter was near the bottom of the yellow zone. Eve ducked as more of them flew over her head. They struck the combat forms behind her. One of the creatures let out a loud growl and fell to the floor, fully dead. The rest either fell back onto the pathway or onto the floor at the bottom of the hill.

Eve looked up and saw a large creature hanging onto the side of the ceiling about twenty feet in front of her. It was one of those spider-like Flood forms that had mutated so it was now on It's front legs and had a curved tail like growth on the top of it with hundreds of green spikes along the front of the creature's tail. The creature growled and fired another wave of green spikes at Eve. She rolled sideways, narrowly missing the spikes as they hit the floor, driving deep into the biomass.

Eve got up and ran up the hill to the crest, dodging a few more spikes that flew at her. When she was near the top of the hill, she took out her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of light blue blasts up at the spider-like form. The creature let out a loud, shuddering screech as it was hit in the face and tail growth. After a few seconds, the creature fell from the ceiling to the floor, landing with a loud thud. It did not rise afterwards.

When she reached the top of the hill, placing her plasma rifle back on her belt, Eve saw a drop-like area in front of her at the bottom of the hill. A small growth pathway went from the bottom of the hill to a large growth platform that went along the side of the back wall of the room. Along the wall, leading onto the platform, were the three passageways. One was at the left end of the platform, one at the right end and one directly down the middle of the platform. Each passageway was quite thin, about the width for one man to walk down, and had large pieces of metal sticking out of the walls, narrowing the passageway down further. Where they led to was unknown? More Flood perhaps? Or maybe, just maybe, to Auto. Eve hoped that at least one of them did, but which one was she to choose?

Eve finally made up her mind and ran towards the middle passageway. She ran down it, passing what looked like a large control panel stuck in the wall. The passageway grew slightly narrower the further down she went. She also grew more nervous. This was the perfect place for the Flood to ambush her. Eve kept her shotgun close so she could fire on anything that attacked her.

Then, the pathway grew wider, leading into a tall, circular shaped room, about thirty feet high, with several growth pathways going across from one side of the room to the other. At the end of most of the pathways were more passageways leading into the biomass walls. A few smaller pathways went along the biomass walls to some of the pathways going across from one side of the room to the other. At the other end of the room was another shield-like door. Maybe that led to somewhere that would take her to Auto.

Suddenly, a large figure jumped down from the ceiling to the floor. It was a monster-like form. Then, another dropped down next to that one. One was bad enough, but two! This was going to be a tough fight. Eve gripped her weapons, ready for the attack. Only; who out of the three would make the first move.

The monster-like forms attacked first.

Suddenly, one of them charged towards Eve, using It's arms to drive deep into the biomass and pull itself along towards Eve. She took out her plasma rifle and fired a few light blue blasts at the creature, but they did little; or even no affect. The monster-like form growled and brought back

It's smaller arm, ready to strike at Eve.

Eve ran left up one of the pathways that went along the biomass wall, narrowly escaping the swipe from the monster-like form. The other monster-like form, despite It's huge size and probably weighing more than a warthog, jumped up towards the pathway and launched a swipe at Eve with It's large arm. It missed, but took off part of the pathway a few feet in front of Eve. She skidded to a halt, narrowly coming close to falling back onto the floor and becoming a target for the monster-like form. The gap between Eve and the other part of the pathway was now about ten feet.

A loud growl behind her sent a chill down her spine. She looked over her shoulder to see the other monster-like form climbing along the side of the path, which was done by the creature driving It's arms into the biomass and pulling itself along the side of the path towards Eve. It was about fifteen feet away and closing. Fast. Eve had to jump to the next part of the pathway, but biomass was slippery, only slightly but still dangerous to someone if he/she tried to jump onto it, but if she did not jump, she would be torn apart by the monster-like form.

Eve closed her eyes and jumped. For a second, she was flying through the air towards the next part of the pathway. Then, her feet hit the surface of the biomass but, as she predicted, it was still slippery and her feet quickly lost her grip on the biomass's surface. Eve threw her arm forward, having to hold her shotgun in her other hand, and grabbed hold of the biomass, her fingers driving deep into it. It made her shudder with disgust to feel the oozing growths slide across her fingers. She pulled herself onto the pathway and moved further up it until she felt the biomass go hard again. She was safe, for the moment at least.

Another growl below her filled the air. Suddenly, the other monster-like form jumped up towards the pathway. Eve, however, was ready for it. She aimed her shotgun down at the creature and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. It hit it in the face. The monster-like form roared in pain and moved It's arms over It's head to stop the pain from flowing anywhere else. However, with It's hands occupied, the monster-like form failed to grab hold of the side of the pathway. It fell to the floor, landing head first with a loud thud, and did not get up afterwards. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. That was one down, just one to go.

The other monster-like form had jumped back down onto the floor and was looking up at Eve, watching her every move and waiting for her to come to an area where it could easily attack her. Eve ran along the pathway to one of the growth pathways that led to a small passageway on the back wall of the room about fifteen feet above the shield-like door. She had reached the door, now she just had to jump down and go through without the monster-like form killing her.

Suddenly, the monster-like form charged towards the door and jumped up towards the growth pathway. Eve dived away back onto the pathway that went along the wall. The monster-like form swung It's large arm, causing it to go through the biomass pathway with a loud crash. The remains fell to the floor. Eve stood up. That was a very lucky escape; otherwise she would have been knocked out by the arm or the fall, or even killed. She had to get rid of that thing or she would be here forever.

Then, an idea popped into her head. It was dangerous but it was the only way she would be able to get out of here and continue her search for Auto.

Eve looked below the pathway and saw the edge of something metal sticking out of the biomass wall below the pathway. The monster-like form could get It's arms out of biomass without any trouble, but what about metal? It might have more trouble getting it out of metal. If it did, then Eve was going to need to use that to her advantage.

She jumped down from the pathway to the floor. The monster-like growled in surprise at first, as if amazed that she had jumped down to stand and fight instead of fleeing whenever the monster-like form went near her. Then, the creature bent low, as if it were a bull, and charged towards Eve. Now it was acting like a bull. She wanted to jump early but she had to jump at the right moment, or the monster-like form would not strike where she wanted and it would end up chasing her all around the room again. The monster-like form came closer and closer. It was twelve feet away…Ten…Five! It was getting close very quickly!

Then, just as the creature was about to swing It's arm at her, Eve dived out of the monster-like form's path. It's huge arm cut through the air and smashed through the biomass as if it were paper. It saw Eve and went to pull It's arm out. What the? The monster-like form tried again. It could not get It's arm out. It tried again. Still the arm refused to budge. Eve's plan had worked. The monster-like form had struck the metal piece buried in the wall and now it was stuck. It was time to finish it off.

She raised her shotgun and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. It growled loudly in pain as it was hit and placed It's arm on It's chest to cover the wound. Eve fired another burst of ammo, this time also throwing the monster-like form to the floor. It was getting weaker, which she saw as it tried to stay standing up on It's two feet. One more should do. She fired another burst of ammo at the monster-like form. The creature was thrown to the floor. It did not rise afterwards.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. That was that fight over, but there would be many more soon and they would involve more Flood than two monster-like forms.

She turned and ran over towards the shield-like door. As it opened, the monster sounding roar filled the air. She ran through the opening into some kind of cone-like room with another shield-like door on the floor in the middle of the room. As there were no other ways in and out of the room, apart from the door behind her, this seemed the only way forward. Eve stepped towards the shield-like door to open it.

Suddenly, everything in the room moved further away from her again, her vision went blurry and she again felt like she was going to collapse. Eve grabbed hold of the side of a metal piece sticking out of the biomass wall to stop her from falling forward. She had experienced this just a few minutes earlier and she knew it meant only one thing; Gravemind was contacting her again.

"**Of course, you came for **_**him**_**," **his voice said. **"We exist together now. Two corpses, in one grave,"**

Then, like last time, as soon as Gravemind's voice stopped talking, Eve and everything in the room went back to normal. That was the second time that had happened. She must be getting close to Auto. She had to find him, and fast.

Eve walked towards the shield-like door on the floor. It opened, again emitting another monster-like roar, revealing another passageway that led ahead. Eve jumped down into the passageway, the door closing with another monster-like roar behind her, and ran down the passageway to the end. She turned left into another passageway, which led to a wide room with a small pathway going along the right wall through where a small section of a previous biomass wall had once stood. A small hole was in the wall next to the beginning of the pathway. In the hole was a control panel that had It's front smashed and small biomass growths over the sides of it. Another pathway continued on past the old biomass wall for about another fifteen feet before turning right and disappearing behind another biomass wall.

Eve ran into the room, keeping her guns at the ready in case any Flood tried to attack her.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Eve skidded to a halt and turned to see three large Flood forms with huge bloated bodies and short stubby legs standing at the exit of the passageway. They waddled towards Eve. She raised her shotgun but was afraid to fire. Even though it had been a while since she had last seen these types of Flood, she still remembered that they carried infection forms inside them. Obviously, no one could ever tell how many. Whether it was a measly few to a huge swarm of fifteen or even twenty was always a possibility.

Then, a loud growl sent a chill down Eve's spine. What was worse, it was coming from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see a Brute combat form standing there. Death was clearly on It's mind and now it could inflict death as Eve was only standing a few feet from her. The combat form charged toward Eve. She yelped and dived out of the way as the creature It's tentacle arm at her. Because she had moved, it missed It's intended target but hit another standing just a few feet further on from her.

BOOM! The carrier forms exploded. Eve quickly scrambled to her feet and aimed her weapons at where they had been to fire on any infection forms. Luckily, however, the three carriers exploding at the same time had killed each other's infection forms. The Brute combat form was thrown through the air, landing near the turning a few feet ahead. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. Who knew a few carrier forms would be here to save her!

She turned and ran down the room towards the turning. When she reached it, shed turned right and found herself in another passageway. Scattered across the floor of this one, however, were a few familiar weapons; Energy sword activators. They were going to be very useful now. Eve knelt down and picked one of them up. She had found one, but did it work. She gripped the sword's activator and the energy weapon shot out of the activator. Good it still worked. Eve dropped her shotgun on the floor. The energy sword was going to be much better in killing the Flood.

She ran on down the passageway to the end, turning left into another passageway. About twenty feet ahead of her, at the end, was another shield-like shaped door. What was on the other side of it? Another passageway? Another room filled with Flood? It could be any of them. Whatever it was, Eve was ready for it. She ran down the passageway towards the door.

Suddenly, the entire room went pitch black. Eve skidded to a halt, though she did not need to as her feet seemed to have suddenly been taken over by some other master who had commanded them to halt. Eve stepped near the passageway's wall. At first she thought it was Gravemind again, but there was something different this time. Nothing in the room looked to be moving away from her and her vision was not blurry, nor did she feel like she was going to collapse.

Then, it hit her. This was not Gravemind. She had been contacted through this way before, and she knew very well who would be contacting her.

Then, a small purple light appeared in the air in front of her. It quickly took the form of a figure. Eve watched it and saw it was Auto. He was in his seven inch high avatar form. However, he looked a lot worse. His uniform was more torn than ever, he looked like he had been beaten up and there was even a dark patch around his chest. He had his hands on his head and, as he lifted his head up slightly, Eve could see a look of pain and terror on his face.

Then, she heard him crying. They sounded like he was in agony. Eve felt so helpless. Here was her friend in agony right in front of her and she could do nothing to help him! Absolutely nothing!

Then, his cries of agony stopped and they turned into something else. It sounded like… Laughter! W-why was he laughing when just a few seconds ago he was crying as if he was in pain? Then, his laughter began to grow louder. Eve stepped back a paced from Auto. He was laughing as if he was some kind of psycho. It was really starting to scare her. What was going on?

"A-Auto?" Eve whispered kin a frightened tone.

As if someone had flicked a switch, his laughter ceased and he looked up at her. Eve placed her other hand around her plasma rifle in case Auto suddenly attacked her, which she did doubt but was still possible as he was going crazy for being in this accursed place for so long. It was enough to make anyone go mad.

Then, Auto stood up in mid-air. Eve watched him. Suddenly, a frightened look came upon his face and he wrapped his arms around him as if he were cold.

"**I…I tried to stay hidden!" **he was saying in a panicked tone. **"But there was no way out! No escape! He cornered me! Wrapped me tight…and brought me close! Oh, God, his voice!"**

Auto collapsed onto his knees and placed his hands on the side of his head. Another look of pain stretched across his face and he began muttering things which were too quiet for Eve to hear. Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, he disappeared and the room went back to It's normal colour.

Eve was breathed heavily in disbelief. What she had just seen _really_ scared her! Auto looked like some kind of maniac and he was going crazy! Oh, God, she felt so sorry for him. She should have never left him here to suffer! She had to save him! She _would_ save him!

Eve ran on towards the shield-like door. It opened as she approached it, revealing another small passageway that led to a large room about twenty feet ahead. Eve ran through the opening and down the passageway towards the large room at the end.

The room at the end was a large dome shaped with a raised circular floor in the middle. Even though _High Charity_ was Flood infested, this room had done very well to stop itself from being completely covered in Flood biomass. Along the wall were several large chunks of biomass; on the left wall was a small pillar of biomass that came down from the ceiling to a lower section of floor that went around the raised section of floor in a ring-like shape. The walls and the floor were a dark blue/purple colour. A small opening was on the front of the raised section of floor and led to a hollowed out-like room underneath the raised section of floor. On the wall at the other end of the room was a raised biomass pathway that led into another passage. That was where Eve had to get to.

She ran into the room, still keeping one hand on her plasma rifle in case anything in here tried to attack her. She reached the lower floor ring that went around the raised section of floor. No Flood yet. She thought about going through the hollowed out room and even stepped towards it. Wait! There might be Flood hiding in there. Eve decided to go along the raised section of floor. She reached the middle of the room. Still nothing. The Flood must have given up. Or maybe there were not as many of them here as she thought. They had probably all left to start spreading out across the Ark.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her left eye, something jumped up from the floor to the ceiling. She shot round, whipping out her plasma rifle, and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at the creature. They all missed. The creature screeched loudly, making Eve shudder, and jumped back onto the floor, revealing it to be a spider-like Flood form. Then, to Eve's horror, it began to shake violently and growths appeared on the side of the creature. Loud crunching and squelching sounds filled the air as the creature's limbs shifted and moved in ways Eve could not imagine. The two thin front legs swelled and became two large and powerful-looking legs. The main body grew in size and cracked loudly as it bent backwards to form a torso. Finally, two large arms, one smaller than the other, pushed their way out of the sides of the torso. The creature had gone from a spider-like form to a monster-like form.

The monster-like form growled loudly and charged towards Eve, easily smashing It's arms through the thin metal floor as it moved forward towards Eve. She began to panic but stood her ground. She raised her energy sword as the monster-like form came closer. She did not know if it would kill it, as she had never used an energy sword against a monster-like Flood form before, but it was definitely better than using a plasma rifle to fight the creature.

When the monster-like form was about six feet from Eve, she swung her energy sword at it. The weapon hit the creature, making it emit a loud shuddering roar, and threw it backwards onto the ground, dead. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad she had chosen the energy sword, otherwise she would be dead. Now it was time to continue on towards Auto. She ran towards the passageway on the wall ahead of her. However, when she reached the lower ring floor that went around the raised section of floor three large creatures ran out from the passageway and charge down the biomass path towards Eve. Spider-like forms! She saw them and ran back towards the raised section of floor, only to run through another entrance that led into the hollowed out floor below the raised section. One of the spider-like forms chased after her, attempting to kill her, but she skidded to a halt and swung round with her energy sword sticking out from her. It hit the spider-like form. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the floor, dead.

Eve was now in a dilemma. Although she had killed one of the spider-like forms, with two more outside the hollowed out room it was going to be hard getting them, let alone getting past them. What was worse was that they could have changed forms from spider-like forms to the forms that fire green spikes from the tail-like section that stuck out of the heads of the creatures. She was going to have to find a way to kill them, or at least sneak past them, and fast.

Suddenly, a tentacle wrapped round her arm with the energy sword and pulled behind her, causing her to drop the energy sword. Eve looked over her shoulder to see an Elite combat form standing about six feet behind her with the tentacles from one of It's arms wrapped around her arm. Eve tried to grab her energy sword but the combat form was holding her back with ease. There was no way she was going to get her energy sword back like this. All she had left was her plasma rifle, which-

Wait! The plasma rifle! Thanks God she took another weapon with her. Eve grabbed it with her other hand and, aiming it over her shoulder behind her, fired a barrage of light blue blasts at the combat form. The creature was hit and fell to the floor, dead. The tentacle around her arm released It's grip almost instantly. That was close, but she still had the threat of the two spider-like forms, if they had not changed into any other forms, to deal with.

Then two shapes appeared at both entrances into the hollowed out-like room. Eve looked at both ends and saw they were the spider-like forms, or had been. They had changed forms into the creatures with the 'tails' on the top of their heads. Along the front of both of the 'tails' on the creatures were hundreds of small green spikes. Just a few of those was all that was needed to break through Eve's shield and suit and kill her. The creatures fired a barrage of green spikes at Eve. She dived to the floor. The spikes flew over her head like missiles. Two loud screeches filled the air. Eve looked both ways and saw the creatures fall to the floor, dead. The green spikes had struck them in the 'tails' and faces, killing them instantly. Eve breathed a sigh of relief and got up from the floor. That was one less problem to deal with.

She ran out from under the raised section of floor, quickly taking a last look around to make sure no other Flood had entered the room, and up the biomass pathway to the passageway entrance. She ran down the passageway, which grew narrower with every few feet. Luckily, after about fifteen feet, the pathway split into two more passageways. One of them led to a huge thick biomass ball blocking the way. No was she was going down there so the other passageway was her only option. Eve ran down the passageway, passing a few more metal objects sticking out of the walls.

Then, when she was about half-way down the passageway, she saw something that made her gasp and shocked her to her heart.

Lying on the wall, next to another metal object sticking out of the wall, was a skull. It was a curved shaped with four small split mandibles sticking out of the front, two on each side of a gap that was the mouth. There were teeth lined along the mandibles. It was the skull of an Elite. Eve stared at it with wide eyes. It was then she noticed the bone of an Elite's arm sticking out of the biomass next to the skull. She shuddered. These bones were once part of a living creature, until the Flood killed it and feasted on the creature's flesh. These were probably the last remains of the once living Elite, a chilling reminder to what happened to some beings who were not going to be made into Flood forms.

Eve shook her head and walked on down the passageway, though it was very hard trying to get the skull and the bone out of her mind. There were probably more remains, more bones scattered throughout _High Charity _of creatures who had once lived in this city. She just wondered that soon her bones could be added to the pile, if she was not made into one of the Flood.

Ahead of Eve was the end of the passageway that led into an oval shaped room with a small puddle of light brown liquid on the floor in the middle of the room. There were a few of the shifting bulge shaped objects along the walls, each containing a swarm of infection forms. Eve just wanted to stay as far away from them as she could. The last thing she needed was for them to pop and have an enormous swarm of infection forms chasing after her.

On the wall at the end of the room was another small passageway that led into another cone-like shaped room. Eve ran towards the cone shaped room, expecting to be another shield-like door on the floor in there.

Suddenly, she stopped. Her foot splashing loudly as it hit the puddle. She grimaced at the brown liquid that trickled down the side of the sole of her boot and lowered her foot onto the hard biomass covered ground. She had heard something that made her stop. It sounded familiar to something she had heard earlier on. It sounded like…

Laughter. Yes it was laughter. It sounded maniacal, deranged even, and Eve knew who was in this place that had, or was using, a maniacal laughter. Auto. It was loud so he had to be close, but where was he? The room was not going pitch black or there was no purple light appearing in front of Eve. These contacts were getting stranger and scarier. Eve felt like as if he was going to suddenly appear out of nowhere, and she even thought he was going to attack her. She was starting to think; was it a good idea coming to this place after all?

Of course it was! Her friend was here! She just could not leave him to suffer, or even die at the hands of Gravemind! She had to save him, and she was going to save him, no matter what it took. She would kill every Flood in _High Charity_ if she had to get to Auto, and she would kill them all again to get back to her banshee and fly out of here.

"_A collection of lies!"_ Auto's voice, that seemed to fill the air and also sounded as if Auto was close. _"That is all I am. Stolen thoughts and memories!"_

Then, everything in the room moved away from Eve. Her vision went blurry and she felt as if she was going to collapse. Gravemind was contacting her again.

"**And yet, perhaps a part of him…remains?" **he said.

Gravemind laughed as he finished speaking. However, as everything was going back to normal to Eve and the room, it quickly changed to Auto's deranged laugh.

Eve gulped. This contacting was slowly starting to get worse. They were both contacting her more and more was happening every time either of them contacted her. Where was Auto? Where was he? He was suffering, and she had to find him!

Eve ran towards the shield-like door at the other end of the room, going around the small puddle of light brown liquid in the middle of the room. The door opened as she approached it, again emitting another monster-like roar, revealing another passageway that turned right. Eve ran through the opening and down the passageway to the end. She turned right into another passageway that led to a large room. Eve tightened her grip on her weapons and ran down the passageway towards the room at the end. More Flood would, no doubt be waiting for her so she had to be ready if she did not want to be surprised.

When Eve emerged from the passageway, she saw that the room at the end was tall, at least sixty feet high, and had a small pathway lead from the passageway before turning left into a large circular bulge-like area. About three growth pathways went across from one side of the room to the other above her, each having passageway at the beginning or end of it. Near the top of the walls were two large circular biomass platforms. On the wall behind one of them was a shield-like door. Other than the passageway behind Eve, that door was the only way out of this room, so that was where she had to get to.

Eve ran down the pathway towards the turning into the large circular bulge area of the room. Just as she reached the turning…

_ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a wave of golden brown descended from the passageways near the growth bridges. They were combat forms, a mixture of Elite and Brute. They landed in the middle of the circular shaped area of the room and immediately charged towards Eve. She raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of blue blasts at the creatures. Some of them were hit ad fell but the rest of the wave charged on, determined to kill Eve, who began to back away only to be stopped after a few feet by the biomass wall on the right of the small pathway.

Then, it got worse. Her plasma rifle stopped firing. Eve pressed down on the weapon's trigger but no more blasts came out. It was out of ammo! Eve threw the weapon to the floor and swung her energy sword at the combat forms, cutting through a Brute and throwing the remains to the floor. An Elite combat form wrapped It's tentacles around her free hand and tried to pull her to the floor. However, she swung her energy sword at the creature, cutting it in two, killing it.

As Eve killed the last of the combat forms, a Brute combat form, a large creature jumped down from the ceiling to the wall behind her. She shot round to see it was another spider-like Flood form. The creature began to shift and twist It's limbs, making Eve looks away so she would not throw up. A large tail-like body part began to grow from the top of the creature's head. It was turning into one of those creatures that could fire green spikes!

Eve turned and ran into the circular bulge area. On the wall ahead of her was another passageway that led into the wall. Eve ran faster, hoping to get there before the creature was ready to fire a barrage of green spikes at her. Behind her, the 'tail' of the creature had fully grown, as had the spikes. The creature fired a wave of green spikes at Eve. She dived into the passageway. Most of the spikes zoomed over her head and hit the passageway wall. One of them, however, struck Eve in the shoulder.

"OW!" Eve screamed.

She stood up and staggered back against the wall of the passageway, safe from any more green spikes that the creature would fire at her. The spike that had hit her had broken through her shield and torn through her suit. Luckily, both had prevented it from driving deep into her shoulder. She grabbed the spike and, wincing in pain, pulled it out. A small drop of blood came out of the wound. Eve wiped it away. Thank God for her suit's shield or that could have ended very nastily.

She looked up the passageway and saw it went into a left curve. The floor also rose higher as it turned left. This passageway probably led up to one of the growth pathways. If it did, then she could begin the climb up to the shield-like door.

Eve ran up the passageway. The path rose high and higher even after she went around the turning. After a few seconds, she emerged from the passageway onto a small platform that was connected to a growth pathway. The pathway went up at a slight angle to another platform that led to another passageway.

Suddenly, a spike flew up past the platform, narrowly missing Eve's face and hitting the ceiling. She looked down to see the spider-like Flood form with the green spiked covered 'tail', which was aimed up at her. The creature fired another spike up at her. Eve ducked, narrowly missing the spike as it flew over head and flew into the passageway, hitting the side wall. It was going to be hard getting across the pathway to the next passageway. Oh well, it was not the first time something like this had happened to her.

Keeping low, Eve ran as fast as she could across the pathway. Sure enough, the creature fired another barrage of spikes up at her. Each one came within a few inches of her. Eve moved faster but she had to be careful. If she slipped or missed the pathway with her foot, she would fall over the edge and end up seriously injuring herself, or even killing herself.

Finally, Eve reached the safety of the next pathway, narrowly missing another wave of spikes that flew up and hit the wall of the room. She stood up and ran into the passageway, which turned right and, like the last passageway, rose at the turning. This one probably led to another growth pathway. Eve ran up the passageway onto the platform that connected to the pathway, remembering to keep low so she would not get hit by the spikes from the creature. Ahead of her was another growth pathway that led to another passageway. She had to get to it, if she could get through the spikes though.

Eve ran across the pathway towards the next platform. However, no spikes flew up at her. She skidded to a halt about half-way down the pathway and looked down at the floor where the creature was. It was gone. Where the Hell was it? Wait! If it was gone…then that was not good. T could be anywhere! Now she really had to be careful. Eve half-raised her energy sword and continued running across the pathway to the next passageway, staying alert so the creature would not surprise her. Wherever the Hell it was.

Eve reached the passageway and ran into it. This one, like the first, turned left and, like the others, rose high as it turned left. There was just one more growth pathway after this and then it was the platforms with the shield-like door. After this room, hopefully, was Auto, or at least the way to him. Eve ran up the passageway towards the next pathway.

"AAAHH!"

Suddenly, as Eve emerged from the passageway, she was lifted off her feet and thrown against the wall of the room above the passageway entrance, dropping her energy sword on the platform floor. The creature! It had managed to sneak above her and had been waiting like a trapdoor spider for It's target to come by, and Eve had fallen right into the trap! The creature's legs held her against the wall by her arms, preventing her from squirming or trying to break free. It's red tentacles moved about from the gap on the front of the creature, which must have been It's mouth. Eve groaned, feeling like she was going to throw up, but also because she was trapped. This thing had her and now it could kill her!

The 'tail' of the creature bent low so it was facing Eve's head. One of the spikes was aimed directly at her forehead. All it had to do now was fire out and she would be dead. It would all be over for her in a handful of seconds.

NO! Eve was not going to die now. Not when she was this close to rescuing Auto and stopping the Flood from spreading. She was going to get past this thing, but she just had to figure out; how? Wait. The creature was not holding her legs against the wall. An idea quickly popped into her head. It would most likely work, but it depended on her strength and reaction time.

Eve launched one of her legs up at the creature, hitting it in the middle of the body. She must have hit it hard because the creature let out a loud screech and released It's grip on her arms. Eve saw her chance and grabbed hold of one of the spikes on the front of the creature's 'tail' and wrenched it out of the creature. She then thrust it into the creature's head, making it emit another loud screech. The creature fell to the platform floor, It's legs kicking wildly across the surface as the pain overwhelmed It's body. Eve, who had dropped back down onto the platform floor, grabbed her energy sword and swung it onto the creature. She hit it so hard that the creature was thrown off the platform to the floor below, landing with a loud thud. That was another close call. Thank God for her quick instincts.

Eve ran across the pathway to the next passageway. Like the second passageway, this one turned right and rose at the turning. She ran up the passageway and onto the large circular platform connected to the wall below the passageway. Just a ten foot gap separated her and the next platform with the shield-like door. Easy. Eve ran to the edge of the platform and jumped through the air onto the next one. When she landed on the second platform, she ran over to the shield-like door, which opened up for her, as usual emitting another monster-like roar. Eve ran through the opening into another passageway that turned left. About half-way down the passageway was another large piece of metal sticking out of the right biomass wall of the pathway. At the end of the pathway was another turning that went right. Eve ran down the passageway towards the end. However, just as she reached it, the entire passageway went pitch black and Auto's seven inch high avatar appeared in front of her in mid-air. He stared at Eve and smiled as if nothing was wrong. Eve was alarmed. Why was he suddenly acting as if nothing was wrong when only a few minutes earlier, he had been in pain?

"**May I speak with you, please?" **he said. **"What's your name? It's very nice to meet you!... Do you like games? Oh good, so do I,"**

"Auto, what's wrong with you?" Eve asked in an alarmed/worried tone.

Suddenly, as if caused by Eve's voice, he grabbed hold of his head and collapsed onto his knees. A look of worry and terror etched across his face.

"**Don't look at me!" **he cried. **"I'm just my father's shadow! Don't listen to me!... I'm sorry. I'm not who I used to be…"**

Then, Auto disappeared in the blink of an eye. However, everything in the passageway started to move further away from Eve and her vision went blurry and she felt like she was going to collapse again. This time she did, falling on the hard biomass floor. She grabbed the side of her head as if a pair of giant tongs was pushing against it. A look of pain etched across her face. It was Gravemind contacting her again!

"**Time has taught me **_**patience**_**!" **his voice said angrily. **"But basking in new freedom, I will know **_**all that I possess!"**_

Then, also in the blink of an eye, everything went back to normal. Eve stood up from the floor. This was starting to get out of hand. She must be near Auto, but she felt like time was running out for him. He was dying! No! She had to save him! She had to!

Eve ran down the passageway and turned right into another passageway, which was shorter than the last, which led to a shield-like door at the end. Eve ran down the passageway to the end. The shield-like door shifted and opened for her, again emitting another monster-like roar. Eve ran through the opening.

She gasped as she found herself in an enormous circular tunnel shaped chamber with a pathway going around most of the length of the wall of the tunnel. There were a few smashed sections of the pathway, probably having been caused either in the crash or by the Flood forms. Several doors were lined up along the walls next to the pathway but most of them were locked. Where they led to, she did not know? In the middle of the tunnel, about one hundred feet from where Eve was standing and on a metal floor that was being held in place by three thick growth pathways leading to different area of the ring pathway, forming three large gaps between them and the ring pathway, was a large pillar with a curved top that was coloured light pink and stood about thirty feet high. Either side were two smaller pillars, one on each side and both about twelve feet tall and also coloured light pink. Above and below the pathways was a thick dark green/brown cloud that hung in the air, making it impossible for anyone to look through it and see what was on the other side. Descending down from the top of the tunnel were three large cylindrical objects which had small ring platforms around the middle of them, directly in line and not far from the growth pathways that led to the pillars. Above the ring pathways were small silver metal pieces that protected the inner controls of the objects. This must have been some kind of reactor chamber. Now, like the rest of _High Charity_, it was a hive for the Flood.

Then, Eve noticed a large shape on the wall opposite her about one hundred and fifty feet above the ring pathway. She looked and saw it was a tentacle. Why was a tentacle hanging there? Wait. T-that was G-Gravemind's tentacle! He was just above her. Oh God. She had to find Auto quick before Gravemind came down here and attacked her. She looked down the ring pathway to see one of the growth pathways lead over to the metal floor with the pillars in the middle of the tunnel. That was where she had to get to. There, she could the next passageway or room that would take her to Auto. She had to be close to him now.

Eve ran down the ring pathway to the growth pathway that led over to the metal floor. When she reached it, she ran across the pathway towards the pillars. However, as she approached them…

_ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

Eve shot round to see a mass of shadowy figures running along the pathway behind her towards the growth pathway she was on. They seemed to appear from the darkness like ghosts. Then, she saw more shadowy figures appear all over the rest of the pathway and run towards the other two growth pathways. She was surrounded!

As the figures came onto the pathways, Eve saw them to a mixture of Flood combat forms, all three types, monster-like forms and spider-like forms, both with and without spikes. Eve backed away onto the metal floor with the pillars, only to be stopped by them. There were at least fifty Flood forms all together and all coming at her at once from all three growth pathways. She was trapped. She had almost no way of escaping!

Her only hope was the cylindrical objects. One of them was only about fifteen feet from the pathway she was standing on, but it was still quite far, but it was definitely better than staying here on this pathway and being killed by the Flood. Eve jumped from the pathway. For a second, she was falling through the air. The ring around the platform came closer and closer. Just a few more feet. _Three feet_…_two feet_, almost there!

YES! Eve grabbed hold of the side of the ring and pulled herself up onto it. The pathway was just about wide enough for her to fit on. One of the combat forms rushed up to the edge of the pathway Eve had just left and jumped into the air towards the cylindrical object. Eve swung her energy sword at the creature as it came close to her. The sword cut through the creature's body and threw the remains down towards the dark green/brown cloud far below. That was one Flood creature down, but she had another forty nine to go, and there was no doubt more Flood were on their way to her.

How was she going to get rid of these Flood creatures though? She could not just wait for all of them to jump across to her so she could kill them. That would take forever and, besides, not all of the Flood forms could jump over to her anyway, but they could still be as dangerous in knocking her off the growth pathway to the dark green/brown cloud far below. More Flood were on the part of the pathway she had jumped off just a few seconds ago now anyway, so that part of the pathway was no longer safe for her to go back onto. She was going to have to jump onto another part of the pathway, but they were also packed with Flood and the other growth pathway, that was nearest her and the pathway she had jumped from, was too far for her to jump to. It looked like Eve was finally trapped this time. There was no way she could jump back onto the growth pathway and fight off the entire Flood there with an energy sword. This time, she really was in a problem that she could not get out of alone.

Suddenly, A loud roar filled the chamber, making the cylindrical object, and presumably the entre chamber though Eve could not tell, shake slightly as if they had been hit by a shockwave from a meteor that had crashed nearby. The Flood forms immediately scattered but some of them were thrown off the pathway to the dark green/brown cloud far below. They scattered back among the shadows that surrounded the ring pathway going around the wall of the chamber. Within a few seconds, they had disappeared. At the same time, the roar came to an end.

Eve stared with wide-eyes up at the dark green/brown cloud far above her. Was that Gravemind? If it was, then why the Hell had he just roared and scared away all the Flood on the pathway? There was no way he was trying to help Eve. Maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, Eve did want to know but now Auto was the only thing on her mind. She had to find him.

Eve jumped back onto the pathway from the pathway on the cylindrical object. She ran up the pathway to the pillar. Okay, she had reached the pillar, now which way was she to go? She had two pathways to choose from, but only one would lead to Auto. Which one? Which one?

Eve finally made up her mind and ran onto the growth pathway to her right. She ran down the pathway towards the pathway. On the wall, further left from where the growth pathway connected to the ring pathway, was a door that must have led into a corridor. It had a blue light above it, indicating it was unlocked. Maybe that was the way to him.

Eve ran onto the ring pathway and turned left towards the door. She ran down the pathway towards it. It opened as she approached it, revealing a short corridor with a dark blue floor and ceiling; the walls were a dark pink, light purple colour. Along the walls were several large biomass growths. At the other end of the corridor was another door with a blue light above it. That one was still working. Eve went to run down the corridor to the door.

Suddenly, the entire corridor went pitch black. Another purple light appeared in mid-air in front of her. It quickly took the form of Auto. Eve stepped back a pace from him. She had to be getting close to him now, but who knew what he would do to her?

"**I have walked to the edge of the abyss," **he said to Eve in a panicked voice. **"I have seen your future, and I have learned!"**

Suddenly, Auto disappeared in the blink of an eye and the corridor moved away from Eve. She threw herself against the wall to stop herself from falling over, which was hard to do as he vision went blurry.

"_**SUBMIT!" **_Gravemind's voice roared. _**"End his torment and my**__**own!"**_

Then, the corridor went back to normal as did Eve's vision. She stood up, no longer feeling like she was going to collapse, and ran down the corridor towards the door. It opened as she approached it, revealing a square shaped room with a pillar going from the ceiling to the floor in the middle of the room and three other doors on the walls, two on the side walls and one on the wall ahead of her. The two side doors had red light above them, indicating they were locked. The door ahead of Eve had a blue light ahead of it. It was unlocked. She had to be close now!

Eve ran towards the door, causing it to open to reveal another corridor with a dark blue floor and ceiling and dark pink/light purple walls with several biomass growths covering it. One large biomass growth on the left wall was even covering part of the floor. At the end of the corridor was another unlocked door. He had to be on the other side of that door!

Eve ran down the corridor towards the room, only to be stopped again when the corridor went pitch black and Auto appeared in front of her again. He had a panicked look on his face and looked as though he were crying. Eve could even see holographic tears run down his cheeks.

"**There will be no more sadness!" **he was saying in a panicked, but also slightly distorted voice.** "No more anger! No more envy!"**

Then, like in the last corridor, Auto disappeared and the corridor moved away from Eve again. Her vision went blurry. She again threw herself against the wall to stop herself from collapsing.

"**YOU **_**WILL**_** SHOW ME WHAT HE HIDES!" **Gravemind's voice roared. **"Or I shall feast upon your **_**bones**_**!"**

The corridor went back to normal, as did Eve's vision. She stood away from the wall. Auto had to be nearby! He had to! He was definitely on the other side of the door at the end of the corridor. She did not even fully know if he was, but she just believed he was! He had to!

Eve ran down the corridor towards the door. It opened as they approached it. Eve ran through, hoping to find herself in a room but found herself in another corridor. What the…? She was in another corridor? Oh for crying out loud! WHERE WAS AUTO?

Then, to her right, she noticed a bright light purple light down another corridor that led to a large room. Hope filled Eve's heart. That had to be him! She ran down the corridor, as fast as she could go, to the end. She ran through the open doorway into a large dome shaped room that was very dimly lit with a cylindrical panel in the middle of the room. Biomass covered the walls and the ceiling, along with most of the floor. The light purple light was coming from stasis shield over the top of the cylindrical panel, providing the only light, which was very little, to the room.

Then, the light from the stasis shield seemed to fade, making the room pitch black. A purple light appeared in mid-air in front of Eve. This time, he was standing calmly looking at Eve. He even looked calm as well. He was no longer looking like he was going crazy or anything like that.

"**This is UNSC AI Serial Number CTN 0452-9," **he said in a calm, distorted, monotone voice, as if he was brainwashed. **"I am a monument to all your sins,"**

Auto disappeared as soon as he finished speaking. At the same time, the stasis shield lit up slightly. Eve stepped towards it. She could see a figure lying on the top of the cylindrical panel. She took another step towards the stasis shield. It was a holographic figure dressed in a torn suit. Eve gasped.

It was Auto.

"Auto!" Eve exclaimed as she ran over to the shield and rested a hand on it.

Suddenly, a sharp pain filled her head as soon as she touched the shield. Images of past events ran through her head as if it were a movie theatre. She moved away from the shield, falling over as she did, but the images, all of which were painful as they appeared in front of her, still came.

Eve saw when she and Auto were on Installation 04, when they were fighting the Covenant on the island on the first Ring. Wait they were changing! Now they were when she was on Earth Old Mombassa! The bridge! New Mombassa! Wait! Now she was seeing when they were Delta Halo, killing Regret! Now the Library of Delta Halo! Then _High Charity_ before it was overtaken by the Flood!

Then, an image of her hugging Auto appeared and remained in front of her. It was when Auto was on the cylindrical panel on the top of the structure that overlooked the city. Above him and Eve, who had pushed him against her cheek, was the green light that led through the air to the Forerunner dreadnought Truth was in. It was when Eve had to leave Auto behind!

The image was the most painful. It drilled away at her head as if someone was striking her over the head with a sledgehammer. It was as if Auto was punishing her for leaving him behind when the city was overtaken by the Flood. It was horrible!

NO! It was not Eve's fault she had left him behind. He had to be left behind to handle the Index when that Brute, Tartarus, was going to activate Delta Halo! Eve was not going to be blamed for it, and she was definitely not going to give up on saving Auto.

Fighting the overwhelming pain, she staggered to her feet and limped over to the shield. As she touched it, the pain increased. All of the blame, anger and fury from this AI avatar was so strong that it was literally the only thing that was protecting him, but also destroying him at the same time.

"A…Auto!" Eve said weakly. "I know you can hear me! Wake up! Help me! Please!"

The AI did not move an inch. He just lay there as if he were dead. Wait! What if he was dead? What if Eve was too late? No! she could not be!

Then, a hand grabbed Eve on the arm. She turned and gasped to see Auto, at Eve's height standing behind her. He was glowing a dark purple colour, indicating he was angry, which Eve could see by the glare on his face.

_"Get away from me!"_ he said. _"You left me to die!"_

The AI tried to pull her away from the panel, but Eve pushed him away. The Auto growled.

Suddenly, more dark purple lights were appearing in a circle around the room. Out of each one came a six foot four Auto. They were all angry and were walking towards Eve. All of them were saying things like _"Leave me!" _or _"You left me behind!" _

Eve backed away as the Auto she had pushed away stepped towards her. The other Auto's closed in around her. Eve held up her energy sword to fight off any of them if they came near her, but even with her weapon, she still backed away towards the panel, overcome with fear.

Then, her energy sword hit the stasis shield.

At once, a loud crackling electricity noise filed the room. Eve and the Auto's yelled out and grabbed their heads, falling onto their knees. That hurt even more than the images did! What the Hell caused it?

Then, she noticed the light behind her flicker. She looked over her shoulder to see the stasis shield flicker for several seconds, disappearing for a millisecond and then reappearing. It lasted for about three seconds before it stopped.

Her weapon! That could disable the shield, though it would hurt. A lot, but it was for Auto. She was going to free him!

Eve raised her weapon to bring it down on the shield. Suddenly, the Auto behind her grabbed her arm to stop her.

"_I do not want you freeing me!" _he snarled.

"It's for your own good, Auto!" Eve half-shouted at him.

She brought down the energy sword on the shield. As soon as the weapon made contact with the shield, another crackle of electricity filled the room. Eve and the Auto's collapsed to the floor again, the pain being much greater then last time and her energy felt like all her energy was drained from her. The shield flickered, though for a few seconds longer this time. It had to be almost destroyed! One more should do it!

Eve, though she was almost completely weak to even stand on her own two feet, pulled herself up so she was facing the panel. She raised her energy sword, though almost dropped it several times as it felt like it was like lifting a huge piece of marble. When it was finally above her head, she was ready to bring it down on the shield.

However, just as she was about to strike at the shield, the Auto behind her grabbed her arm. The other Auto's were rushing over to her, trying to stop her. One of them grabbed her shoulder and tired to pull her away from the panel. The Auto, that grabbed her arm, grabbed her energy sword and tried to wrench it from her grasp. With very little strength left, Eve had very little chance of taking it back if they took the sword from her.

Using he last of her strength, Eve fought with the Auto's. She launched a kick at one of them holding her other arm, hitting him in the chest. The Auto yelled out and fell to the floor. With her other free arm, Eve swung her fist at he first Auto holding her hand, hitting him in the face and throwing him to the floor. She crawled towards the panel, almost completely drained of energy. When she reached it, she raised her energy sword. The first Auto rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulder. Eve shook him off and brought her energy sword down onto the shield.

A loud crackling explosion filled the room, covering it in a light purple light for a second before fading. When the light was gone, Eve was lying on the floor next to the panel. The Auto's had disappeared, along with the shield surrounding the real Auto.

Eve had freed him, but had she given her life to free his?

Then, Eve stirred and lifted her head up from the floor. She scanned the room to see the Auto's gone. They had died along with the shield. All of Auto's anger, envy and blame from him had disappeared. Eve lifted herself onto her feet, her energy rising back through her again. She had done it. She had freed Auto.

She looked down at him. At once, her gladness and hope faded from her.

He was lying still on the top of the panel, not moving an inch. Panic gripped Eve. Was she…too late?

"Auto?" Eve asked weakly as she knelt down next to the panel and leant in close to him. "Auto? Wake up! Please, wake up!"

Still he did not move. Tears ran down her face! No! He was gone! He was dead! She had failed to free him! All this fighting through _High Charity _to get to him, all of it was for nothing. She buried her face in her hands and wept.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Y-you found me,"

Eve looked up, her face wet with tears to see Auto lift his head. H-he was alive!

Unable to contain herself, Eve grabbed him and pushed him against her cheek.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered softly to him. "I thought you were dead,"

Auto groaned. He was very weak. Eve noticed this after a few seconds and held him in her hands. He tried to sit up but it was hard. Eve raised some of her fingers to act as a wall for him to rest against. He sat up and rested his back against her fingers, revealing his figure to Eve.

His suit was very badly torn, mostly around the arms and chest. He had many scars over his neck and Eve saw one through a tear on his chest, which must have been bleeding. He looked like he had been beaten up. His eyes were bloodshot and he had a scar below his eye. The lines that once went from his feet up to his head were no longer there. Gravemind had really made him suffer.

"B-but so m-much of me is-is wrong," he said weakly as he placed a hand against his chest. "O-out of place. You might be too late,"

Eve leaned in close to him

"You know me, Auto," she said to him. "When I make a promise…"

Auto looked up at Eve. He smiled as a tear appeared on his eye and rolled down his face.

"You…keep it," he said. He gave a small chuckle. "I really am glad I was given to you,"

Eve smirked.

"Lucky me," she said. "Do you still have it?" She asked him.

Auto smiled and tried to stand up. Eve moved him onto one of her hands and used the other to help him.

"Of course," he said. He held out his hand. A holographic image of an Activation Index appeared in his hand. "The Activation Index from the first Halo Ring." He lowered his hand, making it disappear. "A little souvenir I held onto. Just in case."

Eve smiled and hugged him again.

"I always knew I could count on you," she said.

"Thanks, Eve," he replied, stepping away from her. "Do you have an escape plan?" he asked her.

"I thought I'd try shooting my way out," she replied. "Mix thing up a little,"

She squeezed her shoulder. The data cord rose up from her suit. Eve took it and held it in her other hand in front of Auto. He rested a hand on it and he disappeared inside the data cord. Eve placed it back on her shoulder and the data cord sank into it like quicksand.

"Just keep your head down," Auto said to her, making Eve roll her eyes as she picked up her energy sword. "There's two of us in here now,"


	15. Escape from the Hive

Eve stood up from the floor in front of the panel. She turned and ran towards the corridor that she entered the dome shaped room through. She ran down it and turned left into the next corridor.

Suddenly, as she passed the huge biomass growth that went over part of the corridor's left wall and even part of the floor, the corridor seemed to move further away from her. Her vision went blurry and she fell over onto the floor, landing painfully on her arm.

"Eve, are you alright?" Auto exclaimed.

Suddenly, Eve heard a loud roar that made the corridor shake. It hurt her ears and Auto grunted in pain.

"**Now, at last, I see! His secret is **_**revealed!**_**" **he roared.

As soon as Gravemind finished speaking, Eve's vision went back to normal, as did the corridor. She stood up from the floor, holding her arm which hurt after she had fallen on it.

"What the Hell was that all about?" Auto asked.

"He's been contacting me," Eve replied. "I can't take it anymore. I'm going to stop him for good,"

Before Auto could stop her, Eve ran down the corridor towards the door at the end. It opened as she approached it, revealing the square shaped room with the two locked side doors and the unlocked door ahead of her. Eve ran towards the unlocked door, causing it to open. She ran down the corridor to the end. The door ahead of her opened as she approached it. She ran through back into the chamber.

Eve looked up at the dark green/brown cloud near the top of the tunnel. Gravemind would be on the other side of that cloud. If she could somehow… Hurt him or even kill him, it would be good. The only question was; how was she going to do it? He was too far above her and she had no weapon to fire up at him, and normal weapons probably would not even hurt him anyway. There had to be a way to hurt him.

Then, her eyes rested on the metal object that descended down through the cloud and stopped at the pathways in the middle of the tunnel. The silver metal was around the object to protect the inner circuits. Eve looked at them and then down at her energy sword. What if… What if she struck them with her sword? She could probably end up hurting Gravemind, or even killing him.

That was it! That was her plan, now she just had to carry it out.

Eve ran down the ring pathway towards one of the growth pathways that led to the metal floor with the pillars. When she about half-way down the pathway, she stopped and looked towards the metal object that was near her pathway and at the opposite end of the chamber from where Eve arrived in. She jumped from the pathway onto the ring.

"What are you planning to do, Eve?" Auto asked her.

"Watch," she answered.

Eve brought back her energy sword and swung it sideways into the silver metal that surrounded the inner circuits. The sword easily broke through the protective metal and threw the remains down towards the dark green/brown cloud far below. The weapon continued on inside the metal object and burned through the inner circuits. Light blue flames, akin to those a plasma grenade would emit when lit, shot up the metal object. Eve turned and jumped off the ring pathway of the object back onto the growth pathway. She turned and watched the blue flames shoot up the metal object, going through the dark green/brown cloud and disappearing on the other side. For a second, there was silence. Eve began to panic. Had the blue flames gone out?

Then…

BOOM! A small explosion erupted on the top of the metal object. A loud grinding sound filled the air as the metal object swung slightly sideways for a few seconds. Then, it snapped and fell down past the growth pathway and disappearing through the dark green/brown cloud far below. Eve smiled. That was one down. Two more to go.

"Now I see what your trying to do," Auto said. "You're trying to kill Gravemind,"

Eve nodded.

"Why, don't you think It's a good idea?" she asked him.

"No, in fact this actually a good idea," Auto replied. "Whilst I was locked up here, I had managed to go over the layout of the city before Gravemind made me go crazy. I found out that _High Charity _has several of these chambers scattered through the city, and they all make power that leads to the engines."

"So how's that meant to help us?" Eve asked.

"I learnt that if one of the chamber's power engines, which are these metal objects that would go right down to the bottom of the chamber, is destroyed, the rest go into some kind of sleep mode, which is good as it cools them quicker than the cooling metal already on them does, because they overheat to very dangerous temperatures, but will still make the power for the engines." Auto explained. "However, if one of the chambers' power engines is destroyed, which can be done through disabling or destroying the cooling metal, then the engines will heat up and then…

"The increased heat will hit the temperatures and make them explode," Eve finished the sentence. "And taking _High Charity _with them," she added.

"Yes," Auto said. "Alright, let's start destroying the others," he added.

Eve nodded and ran down the growth pathway to the pillars. When she reached them, she turned left onto the first growth pathway she ran on when she entered the chamber earlier. She ran down the growth pathway towards the metal object that was next to it. When she reached the part of the pathway next to the metal object, she jumped through the air onto the ring pathway on the metal object. She swung her energy sword at the silver metal. The metal fell off the metal object to the dark green/brown cloud far below, exposing the inner circuits. Eve swung her sword at them. Blue flames erupted from the circuits and shot up the metal object, disappearing through the dark green/brown cloud above her. Eve turned and jumped back onto the growth pathway. Just as she landed…

BOOM! The metal object exploded behind her. Eve turned and watched as the metal object snapped away from whatever was holding onto it above and fell through the dark green/brown cloud far below, disappearing from sight. That was two down. One more to go.

Eve turned and ran back up the growth pathway towards the metal floor with the pillars. When she reached it, she turned right and ran down the growth pathway towards the last metal object. Gravemind and _High Charity's _end was near. Once she destroyed this metal object, the heat would travel to the engines and cause them to explode. However, Eve knew that she would have to be quick in getting out of here once this metal object was destroyed, otherwise she would be blown to smithereens along with _High Charity_ when it exploded.

Eve reached the part of the pathway that was next to the metal object. She went to jump onto it.

_ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!  
_

Suddenly, a mass of figures appeared from all over the main pathway that went around the chamber. Eve saw them. Flood! A huge wave of Flood! It was made up of all types of Flood forms. They were running down the growth pathways towards her, having sensed her plan through their leader Gravemind. They were determined to stop her before she destroyed the last metal object.

Eve went to jump when a Brute combat form swung It's tentacle arm at her. She ducked and swung her energy sword at the creature, hitting it and cutting it in two. The remains were thrown over the edge of the pathway to the dark green/brown cloud far below. That was one Flood form, but there were many more where that one came from. They were all charging up the pathways towards her. In another few seconds, they would overwhelm her. Eve had to jump now.

She jumped off of the pathway over to the metal object, landing safely on it but having to grab hold of the sides of the metal object for a few moments to stop herself from falling off. When she was safe, Eve looked over her shoulder back at the growth pathway. She had jumped just in time. The rest of the Flood wave had reached the part of the pathway she had just been on. One of the combat forms tried to jump towards her, but it missed by several feet and fell down past the metal object to the dark green/brown cloud far below.

Eve faced the silver metal in front of her and swung her energy sword at it. The weapon tore off the protective metal and sliced through the inner circuits with ease. Again, blue flames shot up the metal object to the top, disappearing into the cloud far above her.

_**ROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!**_

The roar was so loud that it made the chamber shake violently, much more powerful than the last time Gravemind roared when Eve was in the chamber. The other two growth pathways broke away from the metal floor and fell into the cloud below and disappeared from sight. The shaking also threw most of the Flood off of the pathway Eve was on, which was beginning to tilt having to hold the weight of the metal floor on It's own. Eve jumped off the metal object, which was starting to swing sideways and slowly descend from the pathway's level. She grabbed hold of the sides of the pathway and pulled herself up onto it. Just as she did, the metal object behind her snapped and fell to the cloud below.

"Eve, you did it!" Auto exclaimed. "You hurt it, but not for long! We have to get out of here and get to Halo. Destroy the Flood once and for all."

Eve nodded and ran up the pathway towards the ring pathway that went around the chamber's walls. Behind her, a monster-like form, that had managed to hold onto the pathway, chased after her, determined to take her with it. Eve heard the loud footfalls and looked over her shoulder to see the monster chasing her. She ran quicker as the monster-like form came closer to her. It was just ten feet from her. Eve was ten feet from the end of the pathway, which was beginning to split. A panicked look spread across her face. She ran faster and dived towards the ring pathway. At the same time, the monster-like form lunged forward, It's larger arm aimed outwards in a deadly spear attack.

Eve landed hard on the ring pathway. Behind her, the growth pathway snapped from the ring pathway and fell down towards the cloud below. The monster-like Flood form roared loudly as it fell towards the cloud, but within a few seconds it quickly faded away. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. That was a lucky escape.

BOOM! An electrical explosion erupted on the wall a few metres to her left. Then, more began erupting all over the chamber. One huge explosion tore off a large section of the ring pathway, sending it to the cloud below. Eve knew that more explosions would eventually tear apart the rest of the pathway. She had to find a way out of _High Charity_ quickly.

"Eve!" Auto exclaimed. "An explosion just made us an exit! Head to the corridor to you right! Hurry!"

Eve nodded and ran right down the pathway towards a door on the wall. A blue light was above it, indicating it was unlocked. Eve ran over to the door, causing it to open, revealing another corridor with a dark blue floor and ceiling with biomass covered dark pink/light purple walls. At the end was another door that had a red light above it, indicating that it was locked. However, on the left wall of the corridor was an enormous hole that led into a large biomass covered passageway.

"Where does that passageway lead to, Auto?" Eve asked him.

"I don't know," he answered. "But It's the only way we can get out of here. We'll have to take whatever chance id down there, Eve. Hurry before the engines explode!"

Sighing, Eve ran down the corridor towards the hole. She turned left and ran through the hole into the passageway. The passageway went up at a 290 degree angle for about sixty feet before leading into a straight pathway again. Eve was weary about what was up there, but Auto was right. This was the only way out of this part of _High Charity_. If she did not go this way, then she and Auto would be killed along with the rest of the Flood when the city explodes.

Eve ran up the passageway to the top. As she approached the top, a spider-like form ran out from a hole on the ceiling into the passageway after an explosion from somewhere in the hole erupted. Eve swung her energy sword at the creature. It screeched loudly as it was hit and fell sideways onto the floor, dead. Eve ran past the body to the top of the passageway. Ahead of her was another passageway that was completely straight, about thirty feet long. At the end was a room. Whether it was big or not was unknown but Eve just wanted to get out of here. She ran down the passageway to the room, which was a large oval shape with no other exit. There was no shield-like shaped doors on the walls or any passageways, save for the one Eve entered the room through. She looked around frantically, even on the ceiling, for a way out of the room but there was nothing.

"Auto, how do we get out of here?" Eve asked him.

"I…I don't know, Eve," he replied in a quiet voice, as if accepting his fate. "We're trapped! We won't get out from here,"

"No!" Eve shouted. "There has to be another way out of here! There just has to be-WHOOOAAAA!"

Suddenly, Eve fell through the floor, landing on a large piece of metal in some passageway that went down at a 200 degree angle, making it look like some ride from an amusement park. Eve screamed as she slid down the tunnel on the piece of metal at fast speeds, very quickly going turning left and/or right every few seconds into another passageway. She held onto the side of the metal piece tightly as it went down the passageways. All around her, explosions erupted on the walls, ceiling, even the floor. Eve began to panic, knowing that if just one explosion erupted on the floor ahead of her, she would fall through it, most likely to her death. She just closed her eyes and prayed that she would not fall through a hole or end up crashing into some dead end.

Finally, after several minutes the metal piece turned left, sliding along the thick biomass wall like a skateboarder going along the concrete wall of a skate park ditch, and fell through a small hole. Eve landed painfully on her front as she hit the floor. The metal piece hit the floor next to her. She groaned as she lifted her head up. That hurt. A lot. At least she was alive, and she was saved a long walk, and possibly even a fight with the Flood, to get to…wherever the Hell she was. Then it hit her. Where the Hell was she?

"Auto, where are we?" Eve asked him as she stood up.

"In some network of passageways that leads from a large room," he replied. "I think we're near a way out of _High Charity_, or at least somewhere that will take us to a way out of the city. Just keep running ahead, I'll tell you where to go,"

Eve ran ahead down the passageway. Sticking out of the walls were large pieces of metal. More explosions erupted behind her. She ran faster, hoping to outrun whatever it was that was blowing up behind her.

"I've analysed the route ahead," Auto said. "You should be near the end of the passageway. Keep going, I'll let you know whatever else is ahead,"

"Thanks," Eve replied.

She ran on down the passageway and turned left. Very quickly, she saw Auto was right. About twenty feet ahead of her was the end of the passageway, which led into a large room.

Seeing a way out of the ticking time bomb city, Eve ran down the passageway to the end. She emerged from the passageway onto a large platform in a large room with a small hill in the middle of the room. A growth pathway led from the platform to the small hill. On the wall on the other side of the room were several pillars along the walls that showed a small view of the world outside _High Charity_.

"Wait," Auto said to Eve in a confused voice. "I've got a friendly contact just ahead of on the other side of that small hill, but who would be crazy enough to follow us in here?"

As soon as Auto finished speaking, a blast shot up into the air from behind the hill. A loud roar followed as three Elite combat forms ran over the top of the hill to the other side. Then, Eve saw one of them get hit with a barrage of blasts. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the floor, dead. Who had just killed them?

Then, a large figure ran onto the top of the hill. It was an Elite dressed in black armour. Hope filled Eve. It was the Arbiter. In his hands were two plasma rifles.

She ran forward across the bridge to the bottom of the small hill. The Arbiter did not notice her as he was too busy firing on a spider-like Flood form. The creature charged towards him from the right side of the hill and swung It's legs at him. The Arbiter dodged the attack and swung his weapons at the creature. He must have hit the creature hard because it fell to the bottom of the hill and did not rise again.

Then, a large figure jumped down behind the Arbiter. He failed to notice it as another combat form was charging up the hill in front of him. The monster-like form stomped towards It's target, who was completely unaware of the threat. The Arbiter could not even hear it coming as he was too busy firing on the Brute combat form. Eve, however, did notice the creature approaching her friend from behind.

"ARBITER!" Eve yelled, drawing his attention. "Look out behind you!"

The Elite shot round to see the monster-like form raise It's large arm, ready to smash it down on the Arbiter. He was rooted to the spot with fear. Even his hands began to shake. It looked like he was a goner.

Suddenly, an energy sword spun through the air and hit the side of the creature. It roared loudly and tumbled down the side of the hill to the bottom, dead. The Arbiter gasped in surprise at first, then looked back towards Eve, who nodded at him. The Arbiter smiled. She had saved him.

Suddenly, more Flood descended from above, landing all around the room.

"Evelyn! Catch!" the Arbiter shouted to Eve, throwing one of his plasma rifles to her, which she caught.

The two fired a barrage of blasts from their weapons at the horde of Flood as it approached them. Despite killing most of them, Eve was quickly forced back up the hill as more Flood seemed to appear out of nowhere and attack them. Suddenly, she and the Arbiter were standing back-to-back, firing on the Flood.

"Wait, you two made nice?" Auto asked in a confused, yet slightly amused, voice. "What else have you been up to whilst I've been gone?"

"Not the time to reminisce, Auto," Eve replied as she fired on a Brute combat form, fully killing it.

The Flood had formed a ring around the bottom of the hill and was closing in on Eve and the Arbiter. Even though the ring of Flood was about two to three deep, soon more Flood, meaning more powerful types, would converge on them. They would eventually run out of ammo and Eve could not get her energy sword as the Flood ring had covered it. The two knew they could not, and would not last long. Very soon, they would be overwhelmed.

Suddenly, an explosion tore apart a side wall near the wall that showed a view of the outside wall. A large chunk of biomass flew through the air and ploughed through the Flood at the top right corner of the hill, crushing them. Eve and the Arbiter, as well as the Flood ring, looked over at the hole in the wall. As the dust cleared, a small pathway led outside. It turned left behind a wall. The back of a craft was just visible. Eve and the Arbiter were filled with hope. That was their way out of _High Charity_!

The two ran from the top of the hill towards the hole. Quickly realising what their enemies were doing, the Flood gave chase. The Arbiter quickly spun round and fired a few rounds at the Flood, killing some of them but the rest charged on. He ran after Eve outside and the two turned left behind the wall. Ahead of them, still fully intact, was a pelican perched on the very end of the pathway just a few inches from the edge. The landing gear had unfolded and the resting area's door was open.

The two ran on board into the cog pit. Eve jumped into the pilot's seat and started the craft. She squeezed her shoulder. Auto's data cord rose up from her suit. She grabbed it and placed it in a slot on the control panel. His seven inch high avatar appeared on a small panel at the end of the pilot's left arm rest.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

The craft steadily rose into the air. Just as it did, the Flood came charging out of the hole and ran down the pathway towards the pelican. The Arbiter ran back into the resting area and fired a few blasts at them, hitting and killing some of the combat forms. One of them ran forward and grabbed hold of the end of the resting area's floor. As it tried to pull itself into the craft, the Arbiter brought his foot down onto the creature. He hit it in the face. The combat form screeched loudly as it fell down past the end of the pathway and disappeared from sight.

Finally, the pelican was far enough from the pathway for the Flood to attack it. They were safe.

Suddenly, a large tentacle appeared out of a large hole at a spire tower about one hundred feet behind the pathway. It moved towards the pelican like lightning and wrapped itself around the right wing. The craft shook wildly. The Arbiter looked and saw the threat.

"Evelyn!" the Arbiter warned. "A tentacle had wrapped itself around our right wing!"

"Not for long," Eve replied.

She grabbed the pelican's controls and pushed them forward to maximum.

"Say goodbye, Gravemind," she muttered under her breath.

The exhaust engines fired out a burst of hot air at around five hundred degrees centigrade as Eve pushed the controls to full power. Gravemind's tentacle was hit in the centre and immediately let go, writhing about to get rid of the burning pain. A loud roar of anger emitted from somewhere in the city. Eve pushed the controls forward and flew the craft up and away from _High Charity_.

When the pelican was about five hundred metres above the city's remains, an enormous explosion erupted from the middle of the ruins, throwing large chunks of metal and biomass into the air and filling the sky with a bright yellow colour. Very quickly, more explosions erupted all over _High Charity's _remains, raining more Hell down onto the city. The Arbiter watched the area of the city they had just been at go up in a series of small, but powerful, explosions. Eve looked out from the cog pit just in time to see the city cave in in numerous places.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back against her seat. She had done it. She had rescued Auto and, with Auto's help in the process, destroyed _High Charity_, thus eliminating the Flood, or at least destroying them enough to stop them from spreading.

"Eve?" Auto asked.

She looked at him.

"Yeah?" she inquired.

"Thanks," Auto said to her. "For saving my life."

Eve smiled at him.

"You're welcome," she replied.

The pelican flew off into the sky towards Space.

Now it was time to get to the Halo Ring, meet up with Wally and John and destroy the Flood once and for all.


	16. Fight to the control room

**Ten minutes later**

The pelican flew up through the outer atmosphere of the Ark's Earth-like world into Space. Several miles above them was the _Shadow of Intent _carrier. Onboard it now were the remaining Human and Elites that survived the last battle on the Ark. They would be heading home first. Eve, the Arbiter, John and Wally would follow them later. Right now, they had to activate the Ring to destroy the Flood infestation on the Ark.

The pelican was now about two miles from the _Shadow of Intent_. In Space, probably about thirty to fifty miles above the carrier, was the new Halo ring. Even from their perspective, Eve and the arbiter could see that the Ring was missing several large sections, as it was still putting itself together. Hopefully, it could fire. That was the one thing now they had to keep an eye on in their plan. If it did not work, then the Flood could easily escape in the time before it would be ready to fire.

Then, a small screen on the control panel lit up. On it was Vadumee sitting on his commander chair in the carrier's bridge.

"_We are aboard," _he said. _"Humans and Elites,"_

"Good," the Arbiter, who was sitting in the pilot seat next to Eve, who still had Auto's avatar on the end of her seat's armrest, said. "Prepare to depart for Earth."

"_Will you not come with us, brother?" _Vadumee asked hopefully.

"No," the Arbiter answered. "This is our fight," he said. "And I will personally see it finished,"

Vadumee nodded and the screen turned off.

The pelican flew on past the _Shadow of Intent _towards the ring. As the approached it, the three could see that the Ring was fully connected but had large sections missing. Some parts that were even connected had a molten lava-like landscape on the inside of the ring, making them look like some kind of volcanic eruption. Luckily, where the pelican was headed to was an already fixed and fully functional area of the Ring, which was where the control room was.

As the pelican came within a mile from the Ring, the screen lit up again. This time, it was John, who was sitting in the ship's bridge. By the looks of it, he was all on his own.

"Good to see you, John," Auto said. "Do you have the frigate?" he asked him.

"_Yes, sir," _he replied, relieved to see that Auto was back with them. _"I'll land her as close as to the control room as I can,"_

"Safe is better then close, Sergeant Major," Auto said to him.

John nodded.

"_Roger that," he said. "And Auto. It's good to have you back with us, buddy," _he added.

"Thanks," Auto replied. "We'll meet you on the Ring,"

John nodded and the screen turned off.

The pelican flew into the atmosphere of the Ring's inner surface. Very quickly, the air around them changed from a view of Space to a white cloud covered sky. Snow began to fall on the pelican's cog pit window. Visibility in front of the craft was limited to about ten metres. Lucky for the three onboard the craft, Auto activated a holographic screen which showed a view of the landscape as far as five hundred feet from the pelican in all directions. Using it, Eve descended the pelican into a canyon network. The snow gradually got heavier the further she descended the craft, keeping an eye on the holographic screen so she would not end up flying into a cliff.

Finally, a snow covered ground came into view, just under a hundred feet from some wide entrance between two of the canyon walls. Eve tried to bring the pelican in for a normal landing, but one of the engines was badly damaged, probably the right engine Gravemind's tentacle had wrapped itself around just as they were leaving _High Charity_. It began to shake slightly as it neared the ground.

"Hang on to something," she warned the Arbiter and Auto.

CRASH! The pelican slammed front first into the ground. A pillar of smoke rose up from the craft into the air. Snow began to pile up around the remains.

Eve and the Arbiter climbed out of the back of the craft through the resting area. They were completely unscathed. Eve surveyed the scene around them. The canyon they were in must have been at least a few hundred metres long. Ahead of them was the entrance into the canyon. Just before they crashed, Eve saw that the control room structure was on the other side. If her memory was correct, and the Ring had the exact same inner landscape like the last one, then it should be the pyramid shape with a huge tower rising into the sky.

"Halo," Auto said. "It's so new, unfinished. I don't know what will happen once we activate it."

"We'll head for the portal," Eve said to Auto, turning to grab a battle rifle the Arbiter tossed her. She caught it and cocked the weapon. "And we'll all go home,"

The Arbiter took out his two plasma rifles and nodded at Eve. The two ran ahead towards the entrance to the canyon. This was it. They were about to finish the Flood threat once and for all. After this, they could all go home, finally be free of this long and bloody war.

As the two ran out of the canyon, they came to a halt in a large open area where an enormous pyramid shaped structure loomed over them about one hundred and fifty feet ahead. Eve theory of the structure was right. It was still the same like it had been on the last Ring, but there were a few differences to it, as well as the open area. The entrance they had entered the open area through would have been the light blue, possibly ice, covered canyon wall if this had been the last Ring. Also, the section that stuck down at an angle from the front of the structure stuck out further from the building and there was only one ramp leading onto the structure, which was on the right side of the angle section. Also, there was no rock pathway going through the air from one side of the canyon to the other. A small pathway went along the left canyon wall and stopped at the end next to the top level of the pyramid structure.

The Arbiter walked up to Eve.

"Where does the Oracle plan to meet us?" he asked.

"Probably inside the structure," Eve replied. "Let's get up there,"

The two across the snow covered ground towards the side of the structure with the ramp. However, when they were about half-way to the angle section of the structure.

BOOM! Something shot out of the sky and crashed into the ground in front of them, filling the air around whatever crashed in a small cloud of smoke. Eve and the Arbiter skidded to a halt and raised their weapons. They waited for a tense second. What was that?

A loud growl filled the air and, not even a second later, two figures charged out of the cloud of smoke towards the two. Combat forms. Eve and the Arbiter raised their weapons and fired on the creatures. Both were hit by the barrage of bullets and blasts and fell backwards onto the ground, dead.

"I-I thought we killed them all!" Eve exclaimed in shock as she looked down at the dead Flood.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Five more objects crashed into the ground all over the open area, one landing about fifteen feet ahead of the two. Out of them came a wave of Flood. All of them combat forms.

"**NO!" **Gravemind's voice, that seemed to fill the air, roared. **"DID YOU THINK **_**ME**_**…DEFEATED!" **

The wave of Flood charged towards the two, forming a ring around them. Eve and the Arbiter stood back-to-back and fired on the approaching Flood, killing some of them.

"Their Flood dispersal pods!" Auto said. "We need to get to the top of the structure, Eve," he said to her.

"We're a bit stuck at the moment if you can't see that, Auto," Eve replied as she fired on a Flood combat form, killing it.

Then, another dispersal pod crashed nearby. Out of it came a large figure. It was a monster-like form! The creature roared loudly and charged towards the two. The Arbiter, who had just fired on a combat form, killing it, looked up and saw the creature charging towards them.

"Evelyn! Run!" he shouted.

Eve turned to ask why but quickly saw the reason. She and the Arbiter ran from each other, narrowly missing a swipe from the monster-like form, and ran towards the angle section. However, they quickly found out, and by finding out I mean Eve almost falling in, that the angle section drove deep into a large trench-like hole filled with complete blackness no more than ten feet from the top of the hole. Eve stared into it. How far it went down, she could not tell, but she did know that if she or the Arbiter got lost down there, then they had very little chance of ever getting out.

A loud growl made Eve turn around. Running towards her at full speed was the monster-like form. As it came within about fifteen feet from her, the creature raised It's larger arm to swing at her. Eve dived away from the edge of the hole. The monster-like form saw this and tried to skid to a halt but the snow made it slide, directly towards the hole. The creature roared loudly as it fell into the hole but within a few seconds it had faded.

The Arbiter fired on the last of the combat forms. The creature fell to the ground, dead.

"Alright, to the top of the structure, Eve! Go!" Auto ordered.

Eve nodded and ran across the open area next to the angle section towards the ramp at the bottom of the structure; the Arbiter followed. When the two reached he ramp, they ran up the ramp to the top onto the first level of the building, which was a long and wide metal pathway that went along the side of the building to the front and turned right, going through the angle section, and came out the other side and continued towards the right side of the structure. From there, there should be another ramp that led up to the top of the structure.

The two ran down the pathway towards the turning at the end. When they were about half-way down the pathway…

_ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

Suddenly, a wave of brown descended from the curved wall above that led to be the floor of the next pathway level. More Flood! Eve and the Arbiter quickly found themselves overwhelmed by the number of Flood. Most of them were combat forms. One of the creatures swung It's tentacle arm at Eve. She ducked and swung her battle rifle at the creature like a baseball bat, hitting it and breaking it apart and throwing the remains to the floor. The Arbiter fired at another combat form as it jumped from the curved wall towards them. The creature was hit and fell to the floor in front of him, fully dead.

"These guys are holding us up!" Eve exclaimed as she fired a burst of ammo at another combat form, fully killing it.

The Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at a Brute combat form, breaking apart and throwing the remains to the floor. The pathway ahead of them was clear. He looked over his shoulder at Eve.

"Evelyn! Quickly!" he shouted to her.

Eve looked and saw him run down the pathway towards the turning. She fired a final burst at a wave of combat forms, throwing one to the floor but it quickly got back up, and ran after the Arbiter. The Flood chased after her. The two turned right and ran through the gap onto the next part of the pathway and turned right again and ran up the pathway to the ramp that led up to the next level of the structure.

Suddenly, another wave of Flood descended from above onto the pathway. The two fired on the horde of Flood, killing some of them, but quickly found themselves surrounded by the new horde of Flood and the previous wave, which had chased them around the level of the structure and were running up the pathway towards them. If they reached them, then they were both dead. The mission would fail and the Flood would have won.

Then, one of the combat forms from the previous wave jumped into the air towards the two, bringing back It's tentacle arm to swing at the two. The two were busy firing the other horde. They were easy targets.

Suddenly, a red light filled the air, followed by the sound of a charged electrical explosion. The horde of Flood halted where they were. Eve and the Arbiter shot round to see the combat form that had tried to jump attack them lying dead in a pile of burnt remains on the floor. What had just killed it?

_"Don't worry, Eve. I got your back," _a familiar voice said through her ear radio.

It was John! Eve looked around the surrounding area to see if she could find him. Then, she saw a figure standing at the end of the pathway that went along the right wall of the open area. The figure waved at her. That was John. By the looks of it, he had a Spartan laser on his shoulder and had just used it to save them. They would have to thank him later.

The Flood hordes resumed their attack on the two. One of them charged towards Eve, bringing back It's tentacle arm to swing at her. However, she saw it and fired a burst of ammo at the creature, fully killing it. The Arbiter swung one of his plasma rifles at another combat form, breaking the creature apart and throwing the remains to the pathway floor. Another, which was on the curved wall above the two, went to jump down and surprise attack them. Luckily, John saw it and aimed the laser at it and pressed down on the weapon's trigger. The level in the power meter rose to the top. When it hit the end of the power meter, he released his grip off the trigger. The laser shot towards the combat form, filling the sky with a quick colour of red light, and hit it, completely obliterating the creature. John then aimed down at the horde in front of the Arbiter and Eve, who were now standing back-to-back and firing on the Flood, and fired another laser, hitting and completely obliterating two combat forms.

The Arbiter, who was facing towards the ramp at the end of the pathway, fired two bursts of ammo from his plasma rifles at a last combat form, hitting and killing the creature. The way in front of them was clear.

"Evelyn, this way!" the Arbiter said to her.

The Arbiter ran up the pathway to the ramp at the end; Eve followed. The horde of Flood chased after them. John fired another laser at the horde, hitting and killing two of the combat forms. The laser also halted the Flood wave and they scattered like creatures of darkness fleeing from the light.

_Yes! _John thought, closing his fist and shaking it. _That'll be the last we hear of them._

He could not have been more wrong.

When the wave of Flood were near the turning that went left through the angle section, they suddenly turned and jumped up the side of the curved wall above the pathway, heading straight for the next level pathway, directly towards Eve and the Arbiter who had just reached it and were running down the pathway towards the Flood. They would be killed!

"Eve! Arbiter! Look out!" John shouted to them.

It did not work, the two failed to hear him. They were running on, straight into the arms of the Flood. John silently prayed that something would save them.

Eve and the Arbiter were coming close to the turning that led left onto the next pathway that went along the right side of the structure. They were getting close to completing their mission. Once they reached the end of this pathway, they would reach the entrance to the control room and activate Halo and then head for hom-

"LOOK OUT!" The Arbiter yelled all of a sudden.

The wave of Flood that had climbed up the curved wall jumped up from below onto the pathway. Eve and the Arbiter skidded to a halt and backed away just in time as a group of combat forms jumped up from the pathway below and landed where they had just been standing. Had they been there when the group of combat forms jumped onto the pathway, they would have almost certainly been killed.

Then, a large creature climbed up the side of the curved wall and pulled itself onto the pathway. It was a monster-like form. Now Eve and the Arbiter were in a very bad situation. Their weapons would be no match for this creature and with the combat forms around to help, there was no way they could win, even with John's help. They were doomed.

The monster-like form charged towards the two. The combat forms followed close behind. Even though their weapons were not strong enough, Eve and the Arbiter fired on the creature, at least hoping to kill or just injure it, anything that could knock it out of the fight. This did not work. The monster-like form just raised It's larger arm to block the bullets and blasts, making it look like some kind of bullet and blast proof shield. The creature charged on towards the two, bringing back It's smaller arm to swing at them.

Suddenly, four orange lasers shot at the monster-like form. As if they were magic, the creature roared loudly and fell backwards onto the pathway floor, dead. The combat forms halted just fifteen feet from Eve and the Arbiter, who were just as equally shocked at the Flood. What had just fired on the creature?

Then, several diamond shaped machines hovered up from the pathway above the two and fired down on the Flood combat forms. Eve and the Arbiter looked up and saw they were sentinels. About seven of them. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. Help had come for them, and it arrived just in time.

"The security consoles in the structure must have been activated," the Arbiter said as they watched the sentinels tear through the Flood.

The combat forms were jumping up at the sentinels and swinging their tentacle arms at the machines, trying desperately, but failing, to knock them out of the air. The sentinels only had to hover higher or move out of the way of the combat forms. Eve and the Arbiter decided to help and fired on the combat forms. All that had so far survived the sentinels' lasers were hit and fell to the floor, dead.

"_Way's clear," _John said through Eve's ear radio. _"Watch yourself, the Flood are still crawling all over the tower,"_

Eve and the Arbiter ran down the pathway and turned left into the next one that went along the right side of the building. The sentinels hovered up over the top level of the structure and descended back down so they were above the next pathway. Eve and the Arbiter ran down the pathway towards the ramp at the end.

_ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

John was right. All of a sudden, more Flood jumped up from the pathway level below onto their pathway. The sentinels fired on the creatures, killing some of them. However, some of the combat forms this time had weapons. One of them had a Human rocket launcher. The creature fired a shot up at the sentinels.

BOOM! The sentinel was hit and exploded. The remains fell to the floor a burning pile of metal. The other sentinels fired on the creature, killing it. One of the other combat forms, however, ran over to the fallen combat form with the rocket launcher to grab it and fire on the sentinels. Luckily, Eve spotted it and fired a burst of ammo at the combat form, hitting it and killing it.

One of the sentinels fired on the last combat form as it tried to jump up and attack them. The laser hit the creature, throwing it backwards over the edge of the pathway and down the curved wall to the lower level's pathway. The way to the top level was clear.

Eve and the Arbiter ran down the pathway to the ramp at the end. The sentinels hovered up to the top level and waited for them. The two ran up the ramp onto the top level of the structure. Eve remembered it from last time. The tall rectangular building was standing tall and proud at the end of the top level, though it looked much more improved and upgraded. On the rock wall at the back of the top level was the large door that led into the mountain. This was the way to the control room.

"Glad you guys made it!" a voice shouted to them.

The two looked ahead to see John jump from the end of the rock pathway to the top level floor. Eve and the Arbiter ran over to the door. John did the same.

"Wally, you in there?" John asked when they reached the door. "Open the door, quick,"

_"__I will allow you to enter once the Flood infestation in this area has been eradicated," _Wally replied, which Eve heard through her ear radio, making her, the Arbiter and John either growl or breathe deeply in frustration. _"I am afraid that containment protocols do not allow me to-"_

"Yeah, yeah, we hear you!" John replied impatiently. "He's so fricking content of keeping this place clear of the Flood," he muttered under his breath as he turned and raised his laser to fire on any Flood that climbed onto the top level.

"Was that Wally?" Auto asked in a surprised tone. "You didn't tell me he was here to help us in our plan,"

"Something I forgot to mention, Auto," Eve replied. "I just hope there's not a lot of Flood heading this way, or we're all dead,"

Eve and the Arbiter turned and raised their weapons. The sentinels opened up into their diamond shapes, ready and waiting for the coming Flood assault.

Then, just a few seconds later…

_ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

The sentinels fired their lasers at a group of Flood that jumped up onto the front of the top level near the structure. They hit and killed some of them but one of the combat forms, who had just jumped up onto the top level, was armed with a plasma rifle. The creature aimed It's weapon at the machine and fired several blasts at one of them. The sentinel was hit and fell to the floor and exploded into a burning pile of metal. With one of the sentinels destroyed, the Flood swarmed en masse onto the top level, heading straight for the three in front of the door.

Eve and the Arbiter fired a barrage of bullets and blasts into the wave of Flood, killing some of them. John charged up his laser and fired into the wave as well, killing and breaking apart three combat forms but they were still coming in a relentless force. The sentinels were even firing more powerful lasers into the wave, killing at least almost half a dozen with each blast but still they came.

Very quickly, the three were overwhelmed by the Flood. Eve's battle rifle was knocked out of her hand by a combat form. The weapon hit the cliff and broke in two. The Arbiter was firing at a combat form when the creature suddenly wrapped It's tentacles from It's arm around one of the weapons and pulled it out of his hand, throwing it through the air and falling off the top level of the structure to the ground far below. John was pinned to the floor by a combat form. The creature brought up It's arm and went to strike at the helpless Human. Luckily, the Arbiter, who had swung his plasma rifle at a combat form, breaking it apart, saw that John was in danger and fired a barrage of blasts at the combat form that had him pinned to the floor. The creature roared loudly as it was hit and fell sideways onto the floor, dead.

"Thanks, Arbiter," John grunted as he picked himself up and grabbed his Spartan laser.

"We could really use some help here!" Eve said in a panicked tone as she wrestled with a Human combat form that was desperately trying to wrap It's tentacles around her neck and arms.

The Arbiter fired on the creature Eve was wrestling with, killing it. However, they quickly had to back away towards the door as the Flood continued their assault. They began to form a semi-circle around the three. Soon they would be trapped and, unless more help came, killed. It looked like it was the end of the three.

Suddenly, a blue laser shot down from above and tore into the Flood. At once, all of the combat forms that were hit were set alight and broke apart into a pile of remains on the floor. The remaining Flood quickly scattered towards the edge of the top level, hoping to get away from this powerful enemy. Eve, the Arbiter and John looked up and saw several small objects hovering down towards them. They were machines with sphere centres and four five inch long spires sticking out of the front of the object, making it look like some kind of cross with a spherical centre. They must be some kind of structure security drones or probably a new but very limited type of sentinels.

The machines, numbering four, hovered down in front of the door and formed a line, spaced about six feet from each other. They were very small. They were only about slightly bigger then Eve's hand, probably about the size of the Arbiter's hand. It was amazing to see how these tiny machines could have so much power.

"Look out, more Flood!" John warned.

He was right. A group of large creatures climbed up from the sides of the top level. Monster-like forms. With them came a group of the spider-like forms, some of them already having mutated into the creatures with the spike covered 'tails' above their heads. The spider-like forms quickly began scurrying around across the top level, their speed and jumping abilities allowing them to avoid the lasers from the sentinels. The monster-like forms charged towards the three standing in front of the door.

John pressed down on his Spartan laser's trigger. The level in the power meter rose to the top. When it hit the top, John released his grip on the trigger. The sky was filled with a blinding red colour for a millisecond as a laser shot out of the weapon at one of the monster-like forms. The creature roared loudly as it was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, dead. That was one down, but there were many more monster-like forms on the top level of the structure and it was going to take more than one Spartan laser to kill them all.

"**You will not win this fight!" **Gravemind's voice shouted, filling the air. **"I have beaten flees of thousands! I have consumed AN ENTIRE GALAXY OF FLESH AND MIND AND BONE!"**

_I really wish he would just shut up already! _Eve thought frustratingly.

Then, a blue light lit up the floor. Eve noticed the blue light and saw it was coming from behind. She, along with John and the Arbiter, looked over their shoulders to see blue lights charging up in front of the machines behind them. By the looks of it, they were preparing to fire!

"Get down!" Eve warned.

The three died to the floor. A second later, four blue lasers shot out over their heads towards the monster-like forms, hitting each one and throwing them backwards onto the floor. They did not rise afterwards. Eve smiled. That was he monster-like forms taken care of. Now they just had to get rid of the spider-like forms.

Suddenly, one of the spider-like forms with the spiked 'tails' turned towards the three, having destroyed another sentinel, and fired a wave of spikes at them. The three quickly scattered. The spikes tore through the air and struck the machines. One of the machines exploded and fell to the floor. Another lost It's bottom spike, making sparks fall fro the damaged machine. Thankfully, it was still intact and able to fight on.

Then, the blue lights on the machines lit up again. Eve, John and the Arbiter watched them as they fired now three blue lasers at the spider-like forms, who were all clinging to the sides and front of the structure at the other end of the top level. However, when the lasers were about ten feet from the structure, they suddenly split apart, still flying on towards the structure.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The lasers exploded as they hit the structure, followed by the terrifying and shuddering chorus of loud screeches from the spider-like forms. Smoke hung in the air around the structure. Silence filled the air for a moment or two before loud thuds erupted from around the structure near the laser's impact points. After about another ten seconds, the smoke cleared to reveal all the spider-like forms were lying dead on the floor around the bottom of the structure, which was completely unscathed by the attack. Not even the tiniest scratch was visible. As powerful as these lasers were, they were unable to damage any Forerunner structure.

The Arbiter and John raised their weapons, keeping their fingers on the triggers. It looked like the fight was over, for the moments at least, but more Flood would soon appear and resume the attack on the structure.

"Alright, open up, Wally," John said into the radio attached to his uniform's chest. "The coast is clear,"

"_Not for long," _Auto said through his com. _"I've picked up more dispersal pods. They'll be hitting any minute!"_

Then, the sound of something unlocking erupted from behind the three. They turned to see the door break in two and move into the wall, revealing a wide, dimly lit corridor with a glass floor, pillars going along the walls and dark silver coloured walls. Despite this being a copy of the same ring, this corridor was much different from the one Eve had been through on the first Halo. The walls were not light blue, the corridor was not as brightly lit and, at the end, the corridor did not turn slightly right. Instead. It had two ways, one leading left, the other right.

The three ran into the corridor towards the end. As the approached the end, they saw that the way right as closed by another large door, no doubt it was locked. Luckily, the way left was open, revealing another corridor that turned right. The three ran towards the opening.

Suddenly, as they reached the opening, Eve stopped. The Arbiter and John stopped as they noticed she was absent from them.

"Eve, are you alright?" John asked her.

It was clear she was not. Her vision was blurry, the corridor, to her, looked as if it was moving away from her, and she felt like she was going to collapse.

"Auto, what's wrong with her?" John asked worryingly.

"_I don't know!" _Auto exclaimed, through his com, in a panicked voice.

Then, a familiar voice began speaking to her. It was Gravemind. He blocked out John, the Arbiter and Auto's voices so only Eve could hear him.

"**Do I take life, or give it?" **he said. **"Who is victim, and who is foe?"**

Then, as soon as Gravemind finished speaking, everything went back to normal. John and the Arbiter watched as Eve stood up, a panicked look on her face.

She had seen…visions of him…r-rebuilding itself. Flood forms coming together, building a new Gravemind! Oh God. I-It was horrible and now it was a race against time.

"Gravemind," Eve muttered, loud enough for John, the Arbiter and Auto to hear. "He's trying to rebuild himself on this Ring! We have to get to the control room, quickly!"

"Alright, quick!" John ordered. "This way should lead us to the control room."

The three ran through the opening and turned right into the next corridor. Ahead of them was another turning that went right. The three ran down the corridor to the end and turned right. Ahead of them was another closed door. At first, they assumed they had gone the wrong way. Then, the door opened, revealing a long corridor that led to another closed door at the end about fifty feet ahead of them.

However, on the wall to their left was another closed door. The three ran over to it. The sound of something big unlocking filled the air. The door broke in two and moved into the walls. In front of the two was an enormous circular shaped room with a glass pathway leading over to a control panel at the end of the pathway. Another pathway stuck out of either side of the pathway's end and formed a circle about sixty feet side and long. Hovering in the air in the middle of the circle was a holographic image of the Halo Ring. It had several large red sections lit up over it, indicating they needed to be added to the Ring. Far below was a large hole that led far underground to the depths of the outside machine side of the Ring.

This was it. This was Halo's control centre. It was time to end their mission and the Flood once and for all.

_**Author's notes**_

**First of all, I would just like to say Happy New Year to all readers of this chapters.**

**Second, I hope your all fired up for the next chapter.**


	17. Betrayed!

Eve and John walked into the control room, their weapons raised in case there were any security sentinels in here. The Arbiter followed them, his weapon also raised.

_ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

The roar echoed down the corridor. The Arbiter turned and stepped back into the corridor. The door that led into the section of the corridor with the entrance to the control room closed. Despite It's size and possible strength to withstand any assault, the three knew that it would not stand forever in the face of the Flood.

"Alright, let's activate Halo," Eve said.

She went to walk down the pathway towards the control panel but John stopped her.

"I'll do it, Eve," he said.

"What?" Eve asked him.

"I said: I'll do it," he repeated. "I've already lost Mary. I'm not gonna lose you or Auto or anyone else,"

"John, you don't have to worry," Eve reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I have activated the Ring before,"

"Yeah, but that one was a complete Ring," John told her, gently pushing her hand off his shoulder. "This one isn't. Who knows what could go wrong. No, Eve, look. I will activate the Ring, you keep watch with the Arbiter. Now if anything goes wrong, I want you two to run. Don't worry about me. In fact, leave me, just get out and save yourselves,"

Eve tried to protest but John's stern look on his face stopped her. After a second, she nodded and squeezed her shoulder. Auto's data cord rose up from her suit. She took it in her hand and passed it to John. John then walked down the pathway towards the control panel whilst Eve turned and raised her weapon out into the corridor, keeping watch in case the Flood did break into the control room.

As John walked down the pathway to the control panel, a faint whirring sound filled the air. He looked up and saw a figure hovering down towards them. As it came closer, he saw it Wally. He was humming some musical tone.

"Oh, hello!" he said in a happy voice as he touched down next to John. "I have wonderful news: The Installation is almost complete!"

"That's great, Wally," John replied in a not-very-interested voice.

"Yes, is it not?" Wally said.

"But what we really need to know is: Is this Ring ready to fire?" John asked him.

"Ah," Wally replied, as if realising there was something he had to tell John about the Ring. "Well, I have begun my simulations. I cannot promise you anything, but the Ring is constructing itself at top speed. I would estimate that this Installation should be ready to fire in… I would put… Two, maybe three more days,"

John sighed.

"That's not good enough, Wally," he said, setting down his Spartan laser on the floor as they reached the control panel.

Wally looked as though he had received an electric shock. What! It was not good enough?

"W-what do you mean it is not good enough?" he asked John.

"I mean: we don't a few more days, Wally!" John told him a slightly stern voice. "We have to activate the Ring now,"

"No!" Wally protested. "John, you cannot do this!"

"What do you mean I can't do this?"

"Do you not see? I-i-if you fire the Ring now, you will destroy the Ark!"

"Wally, in case you haven't realised, the Flood are on the Ark and on this Ring! We can't do anything about that! I'm sorry, but we have to activate the Ring or they'll escape and end up spreading across the galaxy and starting another war like the one your creators were in!"

"No! I won't let you activate the Ring!"

Wally went to grab Auto's data cord, but John shad had enough. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly.

"Wally! Stop!" he shouted, drawing Eve and the Arbiter's looks. After a second, he calmed down a bit. "Look, Wally. Trust me, if I did not have to destroy the Ark, I wouldn't! I actually have to agree with you, that Ark of yours looks like a nice place! But the Flood are on it now, and we both know It'll take more than the firepower of our weapons to stop them!" he took his hands of Wally's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Wally. But we have to activate the Ring,"

Wally could not believe what he was hearing! Okay, maybe destroying the Flood was a fair point but they could at least wait! It was only two or three measly days! The Ark was a sacred place. It was what created the Halo Rings! It was what created the very weapons to destroy the Flood! It was a reminder of the sacrifice the Forerunners made to stop the Flood in the past! Now this person was going to destroy it!

If he could not convince John, then he had help in two other beings.

"Eve!" Wally shouted down the pathway to her. She looked at him. "Can you not stop him?"

"Wally, he's right," she replied. "We don't have a choice, we have to fire the Rings now!"

"But you surely must have at least known of his intentions to destro-"

Wally was cut off when he saw a guilty look on Eve's face. She saw Wally's shocked face and looked away. The Arbiter did the same. Wally looked at John. He too had a guilty look on his face.

Wally could not believe this! They knew! They were all in this together!

"I cannot believe you three!" he said. "I helped you all, but yet you do not tell me you have to destroy the Ark?"

"We didn't want to upset you, Wally," Eve said. "We just thought if it was best if you weren't told. We thought you would understand,"

"Well, I obviously do not!" Wally hissed.

"She's right, Wally," John said, drawing Wally's look. "This has to be done. I'm sorry,"

John turned his head back towards the control panel, his hand rising above the holographic slots. Obviously, he did not know which one to put the data cord in.

Wally felt shock and sadness overwhelm him like water against rock. No. This was not happening! This-this was not true! How they could they do this to him?

It was not fair! It was just not fair! He had helped all of them. He had already helped Eve destroy the first Halo Ring she was on, he had helped the Arbiter through the Library on the Delta Halo Ring, he had helped John and Auto on Earth and on the Ark. He had saved all of them countless times! This…and this was how they were going to repay him!

The one Wally was most shocked at was her. Eve! He had at least expected her to understand! He had helped her destroy the first Halo Ring, he had saved her life on that Ring and countless times ever since! She was the first true friend he ever had since Mendicant defected to the Flood many millennia ago. He at least expected her to stand up for him and at least do something, even if it was just once, to convince John!

Then, something else pushed aside Wally's sadness and shock. It-it was something he had never felt before, at least not like this. It filled his body completely. His hand clenched into fists and began to shake. His teeth clenched. That feeling was…it was…

Anger, anger and fury. No, fury was not the word. Hatred, pure hatred. All of it was building up inside him. It was boiling over. He could not stop it, but he did not want to. It was overtaking him like an infection, and it was pointed at all of them. At John, Auto, the Arbiter, but mostly, and especially, at Eve.

John had finally decided to place Auto's data cord in any one of the slots, hoping it would activate the Ring. Wally watched as his hand moved nearer to one of the slots. He had almost activated the Ring! He could not let him do this!

John's hand was just above one of the switches, the data cord at the end between his fingers. He lowered it towards a switch near the top of the control panel.

"**NOOOOOO!"**

A scream filled the air in the control room. Eve and the Arbiter looked down at the control panel to see John collapse onto the floor. At first, they assumed it was a sentinel. Then, to their horror, they realised it was the one person they least expected to attack John.

It was Wally.

"**THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! **_**UNACCEPTABLE! ABSOLUTELTY UNACCEPTABLE!"**_

"WALLY!" Eve yelled.

She ran down the pathway towards him. However, Wally shot round in an instant, revealing that his eyes had now turned from hazel to a blood red colour, and fired another laser at her. Eve screamed as she was hit and flew onto the pathway floor. The shield on her suit fizzled out. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist, showing that the level in the bar was completely empty and flashing dangerously red.

"**PROTOCOL DICTATES ACTION!" **Wally screamed at her. **"I NOW SEE THAT HELPING ALL OF YOU ALL ALONG HAS BEEN WRONG!"**

"ORACLE! STOP!" the Arbiter yelled at Wally.

Big mistake. Wally looked up at the Arbiter and fired another laser. The Elite roared in pain as he was thrown out into the corridor. As he got up, Wally fired another laser at the wall above the door.

"NOOOOOO!" the Arbiter yelled as he ran towards the door, which began to close.

He could make it! He had to help Eve and John! Just a few more metres. _Four… Three… Two almost there_!

Too late. The door closed just under a second before the Arbiter reached it. He pounded on the door, as if it would break down. His effort was in vain. He was cut off from Eve, Auto and John, and they were stuck in there Wally with no hope of getting out.

Eve groaned in pain as she tried to stand up. She could not believe this was happening.

Wally, the one who had guided her across the first Halo Ring she was on, who had protected her, John, Auto and Mary, who had saved all of them countless times and had been her friend. He had turned against them. The Arbiter was right. The worst had happened to him.

Wally has turned rampant!

"W-Wal-Wally!" Eve whispered through the unspeakable amount of pain flowing through her body. "St-stop! Pleas-AAAH!"

Wally fired another laser at Eve, making her collapse onto her knees. Luckily, her suit's shield had saved her from the laser, but only just. She waited for the blow that would finish her off completely.

It never came.

Instead, Wally hovered down onto the pathway floor about three feet in front of Eve. He knelt down on one knee and looked at her. His eyes turned from red back to hazel.

"If there is one thing I now know about you Eve. It is that the brute we met on Delta Halo's Library was right all along," he said to her. Eve looked up at him. "We are the children of my creators. Inheritors of all they left behind! Do you not see! You _and_ me! _We are Forerunner_!"

Eve's eyes went wide with shock. She was Forerunner? How could she be Forerunner? When Tartarus told them that back on Delta Halo's Library, she thought he was lying to shock them. She was wrong. She and the entire Human race, even Wally, were Forerunner.

Then, Wally's eyes turned from hazel back to red. He smiled evilly at her.

"**But this Ring, and this Ark. They are both mine!" **


	18. Death of two friends

Wally swung his fist upwards at Eve, hitting her in the chest. Even though he did not strike hard at her, she was thrown through the air and landed hard against the door and slid down to the floor. Eve groaned in pain and rubbed the back of her head. That hurt, a lot.

"I take no pleasure in doing what must be done, Eve!" Wally said as he raised his arm with the bulge.

Eve dived away from the door as he fired another laser at her. The laser did not tear through the door, but blow a small a tiny piece of it off. Eve still could not believe this was happening. The one person she never thought would betray them was attacking her! What was worse, she was on her own. The Arbiter was stuck out in the corridor; John was on the floor in front of the control panel with Auto's data cord in his hand. She was the only one who could stop him.

Suddenly, Wally fired another laser at her, Eve ducked. The laser flew over her head and hit the wall of the control room. Eve ran from where she was up the pathway, hoping to get past Wally. However, when she tried to run past him, he held up his other hand and a ball of energy shot out of him. Eve was thrown backwards onto the floor as if she had been grabbed by an invisible hand and pulled away from Wally. Oh great! As if his laser was not bad enough. Now he had a repulsion field. This was going to be a hard fight, and this time Eve might not win.

"You do not deserve this Ring, Eve!" Wally shouted at her.

As Eve stood up, Wally raised his arm with the bulge at her. The silo of the weapon quickly appeared on the front. However, before Wally fired, Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at him. The bullets tore into his shoulders. Wally yelled and stumbled sideways. Eve saw his eyes quickly flicker from red to hazel before going back to red. She also saw her chance to try and snap him out of his trance to kill her, or she hoped this would not happen but if it became necessary, to knock him out or kill him.

Eve ran towards Wally, bringing back her battle rifle. When she was a few feet from him, she swung her weapon like a baseball bat at him just as he looked up at her to fire his laser again, hitting him in the face. Wally yelled out and fell to the floor. Eve jumped on top of him and placed one knee on his chest and the other on the floor. She had one of her arms raised above her head. In it was her battle rifle, just in case he turned on her. Wally's eyes were closed. By the looks of it, she had knocked him out cold.

_Maybe he'll be alright_ Eve thought hopefully as she shook him with her free hand.

"Wally?" she inquired, keeping her battle rifle at the ready. "Are you okay?"

Wally stirred and opened his eyes. They were hazel again. He looked up at Eve and smiled.

"Eve," he said, raising his hand towards her.

Eve smiled. He was okay! He was back to normal. She lowered her battle rifle.

Suddenly, Wally's eyes turned back to red and glared at Eve. Before she had even realised he had turned against her again, Wally brought back his leg under her body and launched it at her stomach. Eve flew through the air, landing hard on her back. She groaned as she lifted her head up from the floor. Wally growled as he stood up. Eve saw the area of his suit around his shoulder shift. The ringing of bullets filled the air as they fell from his body to the ground. Oh God! She had forgotten that his suit was virtually impregnable!

Then, she realised something else. Where was her battle rifle?

"Looking for this?" Wally growled.

Eve looked and saw he was holding her battle rifle in his hand. Then, as if by no effort at all, he bent the weapon until it snapped in two. He threw the remains to the floor. Oh great! Now she had no weapon to defend herself with. Could this get any worse?

Suddenly, Wally fired another laser, only this one split into three smaller ones and exploded as they hit the pathway floor a few feet in front of Eve, cracking the glass and throwing her back towards the door. She groaned as she lifted herself up. Wally walked towards her, a menacing glare on his face, which added to the terror of his red coloured eyes and the pain he was going to inflict on Eve. She saw him coming and tried to run past him again. However, Wally, this time without raising his hand, activated his repulsion field, throwing her back against the door. It was hopeless! She was trapped!

"I am the one who has kept this Ring safe!" Wally said as he stopped about two metres in front of Eve. "If this Ring rightfully belongs to anyone, it is me!"

Eve began to panic. She could not get past him without him using his repulsion shield! She was trapped, and this time it looked like she was not going to get away. This time, she had finally been caught out and trapped. She was a goner.

Wally raised his arm with the bulge. The silo opened up on the front of the bulge. Eve went wide-eyed. Death had finally caught her. After weeks of staring Death in the face and living, he finally had her trapped. Now she was going to die along with John, Auto and the Arbiter. She closed her eyes and waited for the laser to hit her.

"Hey, Wally!" someone behind him shouted. He growled in alarm, as if he were some kind of predator, and looked over his shoulder to see John sitting up with a Spartan laser aimed directly at him. "You won't own the Ring for long!"

Before Wally could react, a laser shot out of the weapon and struck Wally in the back. Wally yelled out in pain. The laser must have also struck the top of his anti-gravity boots because not even a second after he was hit, Wally flew up into the air. He yelled out as he tried to regain control of his anti-gravity boots.

WHAM! Wall's head hit the ceiling. In an instant, his eyes closed and he fell to the ring section of the pathway that stuck out of the right side of the end of the pathway that led to the control panel. He did not rise afterwards.

Eve, who had heard Wally yell out, again, opened her eyes just in time to see him hit his head on the ceiling and fall onto the pathway. He was either knocked out, or dead. Then a grunt of pain drew her attention. She looked and saw it was John.

"John!" Eve exclaimed.

She ran up the pathway towards him. She had to help him! She had to see if he was okay! She-she would help him. She would get him out of here and get help! The Dawn's medical centre would have something for him!

Eve skidded to a halt as she reached John and knelt down next to him. John grunted as he looked up at her. She took his hand and hers and held it tightly, as if it would keep him alive.

"E-Eve," he said.

"What is it?" Eve asked him softly.

John lifted up his arm with the Spartan laser.

"Use it…" he said. "K-kick his ass!"

John's head then thudded to the floor. Eve gasped and placed a finger on the pulse on his neck. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was still alive. He had just passed out, but he would not be alive for long. She had to get him out of here.

Before Eve so much moved, a growl behind her made her freeze. A panicked look etched across her face. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder to see Wally standing up, glaring and breathing heavily at her. He had a trail of blood trickling down the side of his head. Eve flinched at seeing him, as if she could feel the very hatred and anger radiating off him.

"I WILL KILL YOU AND YOU'RE FRIENDS, EVE!" Wally yelled at her.

He activated his anti-gravity boots, having finally regained control of them, and shot towards Eve like a bullet. Panic-stricken, she grabbed the Spartan laser but before she could aim it at him, Wally slammed into her, throwing her through the air and landing on the pathway near the left side. He then kicked John's body under the control panel.

"I will deal with you in a moment!" he growled at John's motionless body.

He turned and raised his arm with the bulge at Eve. The silo opened up on the front of the bulge. However, instead of a laser coming out of the bulge, it was some kind of light blue flaming object, resembling a lit plasma grenade. The object hit the edge of the pathway and sliced through it. At once, a small blue laser shot out of the object and cut through the pathway, making a semi-circle around Eve. The pathway shook wildly, making her fall over when she tried to run. Then…

SNAP! The cut section of the pathway broke away from the pathway. Eve screamed and jumped forward, grabbing hold of the side of the main pathway with one hand and keeping hold of the Spartan laser on the other, which only weighed her down and made it hard to keep her grip on the pathway. She looked below her to see the broken pathway hit the side of the hole, making it clang loudly, and fall into it, disappearing from sight.

Wally walked over to the side of the broken pathway and knelt down next to of it.

"Wally, please stop this!" Eve pleaded with him.

He just shook his head, as if Eve did not understand why he was doing this, even though it was completely obvious. The trail of blood from his head dripped onto the floor.

"You are so oblivious to why I am doing this, Eve," he said to her. "I am doing this because you all wanted to activate the Ring and destroy the Ark. I do not take pleasure in doing this Eve, but I will do what must be done,"

Wally stood up and placed his foot on Eve's fingers. Eve began to cry. Tears streamed down her face.

"Wally…please…don't do this!" she choked. "I love you,"

Wally, again, shook his head in disappointment.

"I did love you," he said to her. "But now, you are nothing to me. Nothing,"

He raised his foot and slammed it down on Eve's fingers. Eve screamed out and let go of the side of the pathway towards the hole. Her side slammed into the side of the slope that led to the hole and she slammed her hands onto it, her fingers clawing at it as if she was trying to grab it to try and stop herself from sliding down towards the slope to the hole, but it did not work. She slid down to the hole, making the panic within her rise to an unimaginable level, but, luckily, came to a halt at a small thin beam line ran around the side of the top of the hole and she grabbed it with all her strength, gripping it tightly with her strength.

She could not believe it. She had failed. After all this fighting, after destroying a Halo Ring, fighting the Covenant and the Flood and saving countless lives, all of it had died in vain. What really made her feel bad was that she had lost John, Auto and the Arbiter, but she had lost Wally. The one she loved and a true friend she had made since she was on the first Halo Ring, had betrayed her and now had taken her life.

Eve looked up at the pathway one last time and saw Wally fire a laser down at the beam at the side of the beam attached to the slope, making it almost snap off completely, before he walk down the pathway towards the end. Eve gasped and grabbed the beam tightly as it dangled above the hole.

_I can't believe it _she thought calmly despite being full of fear and panic as she was near certain death. _He finally got me_

Her mind was…was admitting defeat. This was it. Death had finally trapped her. She was done for.

SNAP! The beam broke away from the side of the slope and both it and Eve, who lost her grip immediately on the beam as it snapped away, fell down towards the hole. However, this time, she was no longer screaming in panic. She decided this was it. She was accepting her fate and closed her eyes and waited for Death to take her.

Suddenly, something grabbed her and shot up towards the pathway. Eve gasped in alarm and was confused beyond belief when she saw herself being lowered onto the pathway. Ahead of her, she saw Wally, who had grabbed John by his chest and was holding him above the pathway floor, be thrown into the control panel by another laser. John was thrown back under the control panel.

Wally got up and shot round to see Eve standing in the middle of the pathway alone.

"YOU!" he yelled. "I ASSUMED I HAD KILLED YOU!"

At first, Eve thought he was talking to her. Then, another figure touched down on the pathway next to her. Eve looked and gasped in shock. She dropped the Spartan laser onto the pathway floor, almost hitting her foot.

"I can't be!" she gasped.

The figure looked at her and smiled.

It was another Wally.

"I am glad I saved you just in time, Eve," he said.

Eve wanted to hug him, to kiss him, to love him again. He had saved her! He had-wait a second! What was going on here? Why were there two Wally's?

"Wait a minute," Eve said, pointing at the Wally next to her. "If your Wally," she turned to face the other Wally with the Wally next to her. "Then who's…"

She stopped and gasped, as did the Wally next to her when they saw that the other Wally was not actually a Wally. He was an old enemy. Apart from the brown hair and increased height, he was instantly recognizable.

It was Juggernaut.

"You!" Eve exclaimed. "B-b-but w-we killed you!"

Juggernaut laughed at Eve's words.

"No, Reclaimer," he said. "You may have thought I had been killed, but I escaped just moments before your ship destroyed my Installation. Afterwards, I came here to the Ark and I have filled myself with the knowledge of our ancestors. And I even scanned and constantly went over the night I was taken from my home,"

"What do you mean; when you were taken from your home?" Wally asked him.

"Are you that mindless, Wally!" Juggernaut growled at him. He then sighed. "Take one look at me and think back to when you knew someone who looks just like me,"

Wally, still keeping his eyes on Juggernaut, thought back to, well whenever he met someone who looked like Juggernaut. He took in his brown and heavily built figure, as well as his height. Someone was becoming recognizable.

Then it hit him! He figured it out, it was…Oh no!

"Oh no!" Wally said as the shock overwhelmed him. "No! please! You cannot be!"

"I am," Juggernaut said, smiling evilly at Wally. "I am Mendicant. Your old friend,"

Wally could not believe what he was hearing. All these millennia, he thought his friend was dead. No! All along he had been safeguarding the very Installation with his old friend, and worst enemy!

"Now you two will pay," Juggernaut hissed.

He raised his arm with the bulge and fired another laser at Wally and Eve. Wally grabbed Eve and flew up into the air, narrowly missing Juggernaut's laser as it tore across the pathway floor below them, almost going right through it. Wally took Eve in his other hand and raised his arm with the bulge at Juggernaut. However, he saw Wally and, before Wally could even blink, fired another laser up at Wally. It hit him the chest, making him scream out in pain, and he and Eve fell to the pathway floor. Wally shielded Eve from the fall. He had a bodysuit that was virtually impregnable, but she would have been killed. Even though Wally had a powerful bodysuit, the fall still hurt, a lot.

Juggernaut shot towards the two using his anti-gravity boots, and swung both of his fists at them, throwing the two to different ends of the door that led into the control room. Juggernaut then rushed over to Wally and grabbed his neck and slammed him against the door several times. Wally yelled out in pain. Juggernaut only laughed and threw Wally to the floor.

Eve groaned as she lifted her head up. Another scream caught her attention. She looked ahead of her to see Wally get punched in the face, causing him to fly across the pathway the edge near the cut out section. Juggernaut rushed back over to him and grabbed Wally's neck and held him about half a foot above the ground. Wally gasped for breath but this only made Juggernaut clutch down harder.

"You will pay for almost killing me on that wretched Human ship!" he growled at Wally.

Wally tried to say something but his lack of breath prevented him. Juggernaut began to clutch down much harder, slowly suffocating Wally.

"Oh yes," Juggernaut said in a voice that sounded as if it were impressed. "I have just remembered, I forgot to thank you for saving my life back then, Wally. As a reward," he threw Wally down onto the floor with the force as if he had been hit with a sledge hammer. "I will make your death quick and painless,"

Wally gasped for breath several times, massaging his neck.

"J-Jugger-Juggernaut," he said. "Mendicant. I-I know there is still good in you like there was before. Please, old friend, snap out of it!"

Juggernaut only laughed.

"You may have saved my life, Wally," he said to him. "Or should I say, Offensive. But If there is one thing I know perfectly well about both of us, it is that our duty to the Forerunners is more important than our friendship. My duty now is to kill you and your friends!" he grabbed Wally and held him above the floor. "I will especially enjoy killing your reclaimer friend!" he whispered at Wally.

Wally gritted his teeth and glared at Juggernaut.

"You leave Eve alone!" he hissed at Juggernaut. "If you hurt her, I will…"

"Do what?" Juggernaut asked in a taunting manner. "Oh, that is right. You will do nothing to stop me," Juggernaut laughed again and leaned his face close to Wally's and whispered: "Goodbye, Wally,"

"HEY JUGGERNAUT!" a female voice yelled.

Wally and Juggernaut looked over at the door, which was where the voice had come from, and saw Eve standing there with the Spartan laser on her shoulder, aimed directly at Juggernaut.

Before Juggernaut could react, Eve let go of the weapon's trigger. The control room lit up a blinding red colour as a laser shot out towards him. Juggernaut was hit and flew to the pathway floor near the control panel. Wally fell to the floor, landing hard on his arm. Wally rushed over to him.

"Wally!" Eve exclaimed as she reached him. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Wally stirred. He had a black eye and a cut across his forehead. Thank God he had his bodysuit; otherwise Juggernaut would have surely killed him. He opened his eyes and looked up to see his beautiful friend Eve kneeling over him. He smiled and lifted himself up.

"Thank you," he said to her. "You saved my life, Eve,"

"Usually you're the one who saves my life," Eve joked.

Wally smiled and embraced her. She did the same. They could overcome any threat as long as they were together.

A growl quickly caused the two to let go of each other. They looked over at Juggernaut, who was standing up from the floor, a look of pure hatred on his face. The two stood up from the floor, their weapons at the ready. A small cut was visible on the other side of Juggernaut's forehead. He glared at the two.

"DAMAGE!" he yelled. "THAT HURT, RECLAIMER!"

He raised his arm with the bulge and fired another laser at them. The two dived out of the way as the laser flew off the pathway and hit the wall of the control room, leaving a charcoal black mark on the wall where the laser hit. Wally stood up just in time to see Juggernaut zoom over towards Eve. He pinned her to the floor and clutched a hand around her neck. He was going to kill her! Slowly and painfully if he had to!

"NOOOO!" Wally yelled as anger filled him over his will to protect Eve. "LET GO OF HER! JUGGERNAUT!"

He raised his arm with the bulge and fired another laser at him. Juggernaut looked up at Wally. Just as he did, the laser slammed into him, throwing him into the control panel and, seemingly, knocking him out cold. Wally rushed over to Eve and knelt down beside her.

"Eve, are you alright?" he asked hysterically, hoping that she was okay.

Eve stirred and lifted herself up from the floor. She smiled when she saw Wally.

"Thanks, Wally, she said. "It's just like old times!"

Before Wally could reply, another growl stopped him. They looked over at the control panel to see Juggernaut hovering up from the floor. This time, he was furious! No, filled with anger not even the energy from a supernova could match. He had been hurt twice by them! This time, he really was going to kill them!

"YOU CANNOT KILL ME!" Juggernaut screamed at them in unimaginable rage. "I AM THE MONITOR OF INSTALLATION 04!"

Juggernaut fired another laser from the bulge on his arm, aiming directly at Eve. Wally jumped in front of her and fired a laser from his bulge at Juggernaut's. Both collided in mid-air but Juggernaut was fuelling his laser with anger, fury and the unmatchable hatred for Wally and Eve. It was so powerful that Wally and even Eve were pushed back several metres across the pathway towards the door. Wally was fuelling more power into his laser, but Juggernaut seemed to overwhelm him with his laser. It was too much!

Eve wanted to help! She could not let Wally fight this battle alone! She raised her Spartan laser and aimed it at Juggernaut. However, he saw what she was doing and, possibly, fired some kind of energy burst down his laser into Wally's. The burst exploded in a gust of wind, throwing Eve backwards down the pathway, Wally probably being safe because of the power from his laser.

As Eve got up, she saw Wally collapse onto his knees and a look of pain etched across his face. Even though he had been through this before, Juggernaut's anger this time was much more powerful than last time. Wally was still staying strong, but he and Eve knew that he would not long against Juggernaut's superior anger. They had to do something or they would both die!

Wally, still firing his laser, looked over his shoulder at Eve.

"Eve!" he shouted. "H-HEEELLLLP!"

He needed help, or he would die, and so would she and everyone else in this structure, but she could not fire directly at Juggernaut because he would just stop the laser. There had to be another way!

Wait, this was a Spartan laser, and Wally was firing a laser. What if she could somehow…combine the two lasers? If she did, it would generate more power and, hopefully, it would overwhelm Juggernaut's laser and hit him. It was a hard gamble and she knew that if it did not work then they were all going to die, but it was her only plan, and possibly their only chance of winning.

"Wally!" Eve shouted back to him. "Don't move!"

She rushed over to Wally, pressing her finger down on the Spartan laser's trigger to get the weapon ready to fire. The level in the power meter rose to the end. A small beep emitted from the weapon but Eve still kept her finger on the trigger. A few more beeps emitted from the weapon, indicating that the power of the weapon was being rising too much. As Eve reached Wally, she knelt down beside him.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked her.

"Helping you defeat Juggernaut for good," she replied.

Eve aimed the laser at Wally's laser and released her grip on the trigger.

At once, another blinding red flash filled the control room as a laser shot out of the Spartan laser weapon into Wally's laser. The combined power of the two lasers was too much for Wally to bear, but it was also too much for Juggernaut. The increased power on Wally's laser suddenly forced it shooting forward like a bullet, engulfing Juggernaut's laser and forcing it along with Wally's straight towards him.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Juggernaut screamed as the laser hit him, destroying his anti-gravity boots, causing him to fall to the floor. Wally deactivated his laser and collapsed onto the floor. Eve placed a hand under his back and held him up. They looked into each other's eyes and smiled.

"You…you did it!" Wally whispered.

"No," Eve replied softly. "We did it,"

"ARGH! AAAAAHHH"

The two looked at Juggernaut to see him standing on his two feet but with his hand wrapped around his head as if he were in an extreme amount of pain. He was. Wally's laser hitting him was overpowering his laser in his bulge and his suit! It was too much! It was too much for him to bear. He could not hold it!

Then, blue rays of light shot out of Juggernaut's eyes up at the ceiling. As he screamed out, another blue ray of light, much wider than the two coming from the eyes, came out of his mouth. They were both getting brighter. The power was overwhelming him. Wally and Eve watched all this in total shock.

Wally pushed Eve to the floor and jumped on top of her, shielding her with his body. Behind him, Juggernaut's rays of light were getting brighter and brighter every second.

**"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

BOOM! Juggernaut was engulfed in a bright blue explosion that lit up the room. Eve and Wally looked up at the control panel to see a bright blue ball fading away a few feet in front of the control panel. Had Juggernaut's body been completely destroyed?

All of a sudden, Juggernaut fell out of the bright blue ball onto the floor. Eve and Wally kept their weapons at the ready, though the Spartan laser's power core had gone out, no longer making it useful. However, Juggernaut seemed to be dead. His body was not moving and not a sound came from him.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Wally.

"That's it," she said. "We've done it. He's defeated,"

Suddenly, before Wally could reply a grunt drew their attention. They looked and saw Juggernaut stand up from the floor. He was still alive! He looked up at the two, a furious look on his face. His eyes had gone back green, a colour he had not seen for a long time.

"I will kill the both of you!" he growled.

He raised his arm with the bulge to fire.

Suddenly, his arm began to shake. Juggernaut gasped as he looked down at it. Then, to all three's amazement, the bulge collapsed into a cloud of dust, falling onto the floor. Juggernaut gasped and stepped back a pace. Then, he glared at Wally and Eve. He did not need his laser! He could still hurt them!

He went to zoom towards them, but his anti-gravity boots quickly crumbled into dust. Juggernaut gasped and watched as his skin suddenly started to turn pale. His hair changed from brown to ghostly white. His green eyes began to lose their colour.

"What is happening?" he shouted in fear. "What is this?"

Then, his arm, which had the bulge crumbled into dust. Very quickly, one of his legs did the same. Wally and Eve watched him in shock. By the looks of it, all his years were coming back to him at once now that his bodysuit had been destroyed, and he was crumbling into dust as a result!

"NO!" Juggernaut yelled in a panic tone. He looked up at Wally and Eve with a panicked look. "Please! HELP ME!"

He moved towards them but his other leg and other arm, that was outstretched, crumbled into dust. Juggernaut fell to the floor. As soon as he hit it, as if he had been something very fragile, his body crumbled into dust.

That was it. He was gone.

Wally walked over to the remains and knelt down beside them. He sniffed loudly. Even though Juggernaut had tried to kill him and Eve, he still saw him as a friend. He had just been overwhelmed with power, and he was just doing his duty.

Wally rested a hand on the remains.

"I am sorry, old friend," he said. "But you left me no choice. May you be at peace now,"

Eve walked over to him and knelt down beside him.

"Wally, I'm sorry," she said. "If he hadn't been against us, he would have been a good person. But this kind of thing does happen in war,"

Wally nodded.

"I just hope he is at peace now," he said.

"He will be," Eve said, embracing him. "He'll be happier now. He'l-"

A groan suddenly stopped them. Eve looked over at the control panel. John! Oh no! He was still wounded!

She rushed over to him and pulled him out from under the control panel. He still had Auto's data cord in his hand, but he was dying! Oh God, no!

"John?" Eve said weakly as she lifted his head up from the floor.

He grunted in pain and opened his eyes and looked up at Eve.

"E-E-Eve," he said. He looked and saw Wally sitting next to her. "W-what happ-ened!"

"The Wally that was with us was an imposter. This is the real Wally," Eve replied.

John let out a weak chuckle.

"I always thought you had someone to look out for you," he joked weakly, earning a small smile from Wall and Eve.

"John, listen to me!" Eve said to him, taking his hand, which had Auto's data cord in it, in hers and holding it tightly. "I'm gonna get you out of here! I'm gonna get you help!"

"No!" John grunted. "No…you're not,"

"What do you mean?" Eve asked him.

"My part in this mission is over," John whispered. He lifted his head up and moved his hand with Auto's data cord near his mouth. "A-Auto,"

Eve moved her hand slightly and Auto's seven inch high avatar shot up from the data cord. He had seen everything. He was already in tears.

"What?" he asked.

"I want you to promise me something," John whispered to him. "Don't let Eve g-go! And you too Wally. Don't neither of you, ev-ever let her go!"

Auto sniffed and nodded. Eve was already starting to cry. No! She was not going to lose John! She had already lost Mary in this operation, but now John! No! God, please no!

"E-Eve!" John whispered.

Auto disappeared back inside his data cord. Eve leaned in closer to him. John lifted his head up a little more.

"I-I want you to do one more thing for me," he said.

"What is it?" Eve asked, tears streaming down her face.

John grabbed the neck of her uniform and pulled her close to him so his mouth was next to her ear.

"Send me out…with a bang!"

Then, Eve felt the warmth of his body fade from him and the coldness, that turned her fingers to ice, that replaced it. He let out his last breath before he went silent, never to move or talk again.

He was dead.

Eve hugged John's body as tightly as she could. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed over the body of her friend. The one who had stood by her since the beginning of her time as a UNSC super soldier, who had fought alongside her on the first Halo Ring, on Earth, on Delta Halo and on the Ark, and the one who had saved her life from Juggernaut, who was disguised as Wally, was gone. His part in all of this was finally over.

Wally placed a hand on Eve's shoulder.

"Eve," he said. "I am so sorry,"

She did not reply but just continued to hold John, not wanting to let him go! However, she soon faced the fact he was gone, and she was going to have to finish this without him.

Eve gently lowered his body onto the pathway and took Auto's data cord from his cold fingers. She stood up and walked over to the control panel and placed the data crossed into one of the slots. Auto's six foot four avatar rose up from the top of the control panel. Auto was also still crying. He raised his hand in the direction of the holographic image of Halo. A loud charging sound filled the room. Eve took out Auto's data cord, making his avatar disappear, and placed it on her shoulder, where it sank back into her suit. She turned, revealing the dry tears marks on her face. Wally sighed. He could not help but feel sorry for her. She had lost almost everyone dear to her. All her friends and Mary and John. They were all dead. No one deserved this amount of pain, especially Eve.

Then, a large light blue/white ray shot up from the hole below into another hole in the ceiling of the control room. The control room shook slightly.

CRASH! Part of the ceiling collapsed and landed on the back of the ring shaped section of the pathway, breaking it away from the rest of the pathway. The remains fell to the hole below, where they were incinerated completely by the energy from the ray.

"Let's go, Wally," she said.

The two ran down the pathway as it collapsed behind them. John's body slid off the pathway and fell with the remains of the control panel into the ray of light, both being incinerated completely. Ahead of the two, the blast door opened. The Arbiter, who had been walking up and down the corridor impatiently and worryingly, looked up at the door.

"Evelyn!" he exclaimed with relief. "You are aliv-"

He was cut off when he saw Wally. He raised his plasma rifle at him. Wally gasped in fright and hid behind Eve.

"No, Arbiter, stop!" Eve said to the Elite. He lowered his weapon. "The Wally that attacked us was an imposter. This is the real Wally,"

Wally, still shaking, nervously, stepped out from behind Eve. The Arbiter accepted that he was the real Wally and noticed someone else was absent from the group.

"Where is your sergeant, Evelyn?" he asked her.

Eve looked down at the floor sadly. Wally just sighed and looked up at the Arbiter. The Arbiter took one look at Wally's eyes and he knew straight away what had happened to John.

The Arbiter sighed and walked over to Eve and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I am sorry, Evelyn," he said. "Your sergeant was a good soldier,"

Eve looked up the Elite and smiled.

"Thanks, Arbiter," she said.

The Arbiter nodded.

"He did his duty," he said. "Now we must finish ours. Come, quickly!"


	19. The way the world ends

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter ran down the corridor through the doorway and turned left into the next corridor. Behind them, they could hear the control room of Halo collapse. This is the way the world of Halo ends.

As the three reached the end of the corridor and turned left into the next corridor, a group of combat forms charged towards them. Wally hid behind Eve. The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and fired at the group of combat forms. All were hit and fell backwards onto the floor, fully dead

The three ran on past the dead combat forms and turned right into the entrance corridor that led back outside. Outside on the top level of the structure, a few small explosions erupted, each leaving a hole in the floor of the structure's top level or in the wall of the structure at the front end of the top level. Also, they saw that the sky, once completely white from the clouds and the snow, had now turned a scarlet colour with gold, red and bright orange mixed into it, making it look like dawn or dusk. The three ran down the corridor and back outside.

Suddenly, just as they came out of the corridor, a few lasers fired down towards them. Luckily, Wally activated some kind of shield from the bulge on his arm. The lasers hit the shield and deflected back off it and hit a group of four sentinels. The machines exploded and fell to the floor, a burning pile of wreckage.

"Why have the sentinels turned on us?" the Arbiter asked furiously. "I presumed they were on our side!"

"It is most likely because we have killed Juggernaut that they are no longer aiding us," Wally replied. "We will have to be careful for when we leave,"

"Question is; how?" Eve piped up.

_"The Dawn!" _Auto exclaimed through his com. _"John parked it only a few miles away. And It's still operational! We have a chance to get off the Ring!"_

"Yes!" Eve exclaimed. "Good work, Auto! Now we just need to find a way to get to it,"

_"Through the doorway at the end of the pathway on the side of the cliff," _Auto told her.

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter looked up at the end of the rock pathway to see a small diamond shaped door built into the side of the cliff. They had to go through there if they were to get to the _Dawn _in time.

"_It should take us straight to the path that leads to the Dawn," _Auto said through his com. _"Hurry, let's go!"_

Eve, Wally and the Arbiter ran over to the end of the pathway that joined onto the side of the structure's top level. The Arbiter jumped up onto the pathway and held out his hands for Wally and Eve. They took them and he pulled them up onto the pathway. The three ran down the pathway, turning left when the pathway turned, and ran down it to the door. It opened as they approached it. The three ran through the doorway.

They found themselves in a narrow dark green coloured corridor that was about forty feet long and led down to a large room at the end. The three, the Arbiter going first with his weapon raised, ran down the corridor towards the end. Eve and Wally followed close behind. As they approached the room at the end, the group heard the sounds of roars and lasers being fired. By the looks of it, a battle was raging in the room ahead of them.

The three emerged from the corridor into a large octagon shaped room with a wall going around the middle of the room, seemingly cutting it in two and leaving a pathway to go around the edge of the middle of the room. On the wall about twenty feet from the corridor they had emerged was another corridor that led away in the direction of the other side of the cliff. However, there were also a few sentinels scattered around the room. Fighting them were a group of Flood, made up of four combat forms, a carrier form and about ten infection forms.

Then, one of the combat forms, that had just jumped up at a sentinel to attack it but missed, saw the three and charged towards them. The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and fired a few blasts at the creature, hitting it and throwing it to the floor, fully dead. Very quickly afterwards, one of the sentinels turned to fire It's laser at them. Again, the Arbiter fired on the machine, hitting and causing it to fall to the floor and explode into a burning pile of metal wreckage.

"We must hurry before more of them arrive," he said to Wally and Eve.

The three, led by the Arbiter, ran into the battle between the sentinels and the Flood, who were still content with killing each other even though their three worst enemies were running right past them. Wally decided to hover far above the floor when they passed the infection forms. Even though he had stood up against the Flood, he was still afraid of them, especially infection forms. He landed back on the floor next to Eve as they reached the corridor.

Then, just as they were about to run down the corridor, they heard another voice through the noise of the battle It was instantly recognizable. It was Gravemind.

"**Resignation is my virtue," **they heard him say in a sad and defeated voice, knowing they had succeeded. **"Like water, I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved…but **_**you three**_** imposed!"**

His tone changed in a slightly angry voice on the last four words. It was obvious he was now _very_ pissed off by the three's activation of the Ring, so they were going to have to leave now, and quickly.

The three ran down the corridor, which was another narrow, dark green coloured one. At the end was a wall that turned had a turning that led left. What or where to, they could not tell.

Suddenly, from several large rectangular shaped holes driven into both sides of the corridor, a wave of infection forms appeared. There must have been at least thirty, no, _forty_ of them. With them were two carrier forms. The wave of Flood moved down the corridor towards the three.

The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and fired a few blasts down the corridor at the Flood. One of the infection forms was hit and popped like a balloon, causing other infection forms around it to pop like balloons as well. Within a few seconds, the wave of forty infection forms had shrunk to only about three. The Arbiter then fired a few blasts at the carrier forms. Both were hit and exploded. However, both exploding at the same time killed the swarm of infection forms they had inside them as well as the three on the floor. The Arbiter then tossed his plasma rifle to the floor. It was out of ammo, but the way ahead of them was clear.

The three ran down the corridor to the end. When they reached it, they turned left into another narrow, dark green coloured corridor. However, at the end of this one was another diamond shaped door. Hopefully, it led outside. The three ran down the corridor toward the door, causing it to open automatically for them. The three ran through the doorway.

They found themselves on a wide snow covered pathway that was situated between the cliff and a large rock ahead of them. The pathway went around both sides of the rock, the right part of the pathway being situated between the side of the rock and the cliff the three had just come out of. Above them was a sky that looked like it was on fire. They were back outside.

"_There, John's warthog!" _Auto exclaimed through his com.

The three looked around them and saw a machine gun warthog parked nearby. So that's how John got to them so quickly. Well now they were going to need it to get off Halo before it blew. The three ran over to the warthog and climbed in. Eve got into the driver's seat, Wally in the passenger seat and the Arbiter manned the machine gun turret on the back of the vehicle.

"C'mon Eve, go, go, go!" Auto urged her.

_Alright, no need to be impatient! _Eve thought.

She started the vehicle. The engine sprang to life, humming loudly. Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The vehicle shot forward down the pathway. Eve drove it around the right side of the rock. Ahead of them, the pathway rose up slightly before turning right and going back down. A bit further on from the pathway, they could also see the top of another cliff.

Eve drove the warthog up the pathway. When they reached the top of the risen section of the pathway, they saw a large rectangular shaped structure far away behind the cliff. In front of the cliff, situated between the pathway, which continued on ahead of them, and the cliff was a large metal floor made up of square shaped metal pieces. One of them was broken, It's top half having been torn off in an explosion, and bent upwards, revealing the large, thick metal wires on the inside of the metal floor.

Eve drove the warthog down the pathway towards the end. As they passed the metal floor placed between the pathway and the cliff, an explosion drew their gaze. The three went wide-eyed as a pillar of fire shot up from below the metal floor, blowing apart two of the square shaped pieces out of the way as if they were matchsticks. The remains of the metal floor fell through the hole, never to be seen again. Eve gulped. They were going to need the luck of God to help them if they were going to have to drive over any square shaped metal floors, otherwise they would suffer the same fate.

Eve drove the warthog on down the pathway. As they came near the end, in front of them was a large metal floor ground that went straight before descending sideways one square shaped metal piece and then going straight again and then descending sideways again before finishing at a straight level again. Two cliffs went along the side of the metal floor for about fifty feet, one hundred feet on the left side of the metal floor, before ending. Sticking out from behind the right cliff was another enormous rectangular shaped structure. Sticking out of the left cliff was a walking stick-like shaped metal pillar with the shorter end connecting to the metal floor about forty feet from the end of the snow covered pathway, acting as some kind of tower. At the other end of the straight level of the square shaped metal floors was a large platform, though it was a little too far away for either of the three to see what it was shaped like or how they could get across it.

"I do not think we should go across this metal ground," Wally said.

"We have to," Eve told him. "Otherwise we're all dead,"

She drove the warthog forward onto the metal ground. No sooner than a second passed before another pillar of fire shot up from underneath the metal floor about twenty feet to their left. Two of the square shaped pieces were blown off of the metal ground and fell through the hole where they had been just second earlier. As the warthog drove by, the three saw that there was nothing below the metal ground to hold it up. Eve shuddered to think what would happen to them if they fell through a hole that had been blown open by another pillar of fire.

Eve drove the warthog on past the tower that was the shorter end of the walking stick-like shaped structure. As they passed it, another two explosions tore apart the metal floor, one of them literally being a few feet from them, forming two more holes. The three took one quick look through the hole to see a large metal surfaced ground about a _mile_ below them. Now they had to be extra careful. If they fell through a hole, the fall would definitely kill them when they hit the metal surfaced far below them.

"Come on, Eve! Can't you go faster?" Auto asked her.

"Not really," Eve replied.

The warthog shook slightly as it drove down the descended part of the metal floor and back onto the straight level again. Ahead of them, they could see the platform clearly now. It had a large circular section in the middle of the platform with four large walls sticking out of the corners of the circular section. Large square shaped holes had been cut out of the walls and a pathway ran through them, apart from the wall to the left of the way they could gget onto the platform. They had to get to that platform quick before another explosion tore apart the metal floor. Or worse, before the metal floor collapsed, which the three knew it would eventually do so they had to move now!

Eve drove the warthog down the next sideway descending section, making to shake slightly. The warthog drove back onto the lower straight level of the metal floor and shot ahead towards the platform's side, which was connected to the end of the metal floor. When they were about half-way to the platform, an explosion tore apart the floor ahead of them. The three yelled and Eve swerved the warthog around the hole, narrowly avoiding having the warthog fall through it and leading them to their deaths. They sighed in relief. That was a very close call!

Eve drove the warthog forward onto the platform. She turned the vehicle right and drove through the hole. The pathway turned left and went around the side of the platform. Eve turned the warthog left and drove down the pathway.

"Look out!" the Arbiter yelled all of a sudden.

The machine gun turret chattered away loudly behind Eve and Wally as they looked out of the warthog to see what the Arbiter was firing on. Suddenly, the warthog lifted about two feet into the air. What the Hell had just done that?

Then, Wally saw what it was the Arbiter was firing on. A few infection forms had moved down the side of the circular shaped section of the platform and moved across the pathway, going right into the warthog's path and being run over by it. As he looked out of the passenger seat to what was behind the warthog, he saw one infection form left of the swarm move towards the side of the platform. A second later, it popped as the Arbiter fired another bullet at it. As Wally sat back in the passenger seat, he knew there would be many more Flood, and possibly even sentinels, ahead of them.

As Eve drove through the next wall and turned the warthog left again to drive down the pathway that went along the opposite end of the platform, the Arbiter fired another barrage from the machine gun turret at a group of sentinels that were hovering above the platform floor firing at a few carrier forms. One of the sentinels was hit and fell to the pathway and exploded into a burning pile of wreckage. The other sentinels turned and fired on the warthog, but Eve's quick driving avoided the warthog being destroyed by their lasers and the Arbiter having control of the turret easily brought them down.

As the warthog came close to the last wall that had the last turning, which led left to go along the left side of the platform, one of the carrier forms ambled into the path of the warthog. The warthog hit the creature and sent it flying through the air, landing several feet away next to the side of the platform. The carrier form then swelled up and exploded but because it was next to the side of the platform, three of the infection forms within the creature were thrown over the side to their fate.

Eve turned the warthog left through the next turning and drove down the next pathway. However, there was no pathway leading through the next wall, which is where it ended. Where were they to go next?

They saw their answer a few moments later. Below the side of the platform to their right was another large metal ground that led straight to a large opening in the side of the rectangular shaped building that stuck out from the cliff. The square shaped metal pieces on the sides of the metal ground were all bent up and broken. Another large walking stick-like structure stuck out of the side of the rectangular structure.

The drop from the side of the platform and the metal ground was about fifteen feet. The warthog could easily make the jump; the three just had to hope that another pillar of fire would not tear open another hole or the warthog would tip over.

Eve drove the warthog off the side of the platform to the metal ground below. Miraculously, the warthog did not tip over or fall through another hole. They were still safe, for the moment. She drove the warthog across the metal ground towards the opening that led into the rectangular shaped structure. A few more explosions erupted all around them, blowing off large chunks of the metal ground. One exploded a few metres in front of the warthog, leaving a hole big enough for two scorpion tanks to fit through. Eve slammed her foot down on the brake. The warthog screeched to a halt, coming within just a few feet from the edge of the hole.

"That was close," Eve said.

"Let us hope it does not happen again," the Arbiter piped up.

Then, the sound of something large and made of metal capsizing filled the air. It was coming from behind them. The three looked behind the warthog to see the entire platform they had been on just seconds earlier tilt sideways to It's left. It held that position for about a millisecond before the entire thing fell sideways and disappeared below the edge of the metal ground. The platform had fallen! Then, two pieces of the metal ground broke away from the rest and disappeared from sight.

"Time to go," Eve said.

She reversed the warthog slightly before driving around the hole towards the opening. Just as they approached it, they saw several blasts and lasers erupt inside the structure. By the looks of it, the Flood and the sentinels were fighting again so they were going to have to be quick and careful if they were get through here.

The warthog reached the opening that led into the structure. Ahead of them were three ramp pathways that led to the other end of the structure. In front of them was the middle ramp pathway which rose up slightly before going down. The other two went straight before either rising or descending. The walls of the structure revealed other large rooms either side of this part of the structure. About two hundred feet ahead of them, on the other side of the structure, was another opening that led back outside.

Eve drove the warthog forward up the middle ramp into the structure. As they reached the top, which went straight for about ten metres before descending and going through the middle of two raised sections of the other two ramps either side of it, they saw that they had been right about a possible battle between the sentinels and the Flood. Ahead of them was a group of three sentinels firing lasers at a group of seven combat forms with a few infection forms. Even though Halo was being torn apart, these two mortal enemies were still going to try and kill each other.

"Hang on," Eve said to the Arbiter and Wally.

Eve drove the warthog down the middle pathway towards the battle. As they approached it, the Arbiter aimed his machine gun turret at the Flood and sentinels battle and fired. The bullets tore through one of the sentinels and caused it to fall to the ground and explode into a burning pile of wreckage. One of the combat forms turned and charged towards the warthog. However, it ran right into the path of the vehicle and the warthog slammed into the creature, throwing it over the side of the ramp to the left pathway.

Then, as the warthog ran over the infection forms, popping all three of them, another of the combat forms jumped onto the side of the warthog next to Eve. It grabbed her with It's tentacle arm and tried to pull her out of the vehicle. Luckily, Wally aimed his bulge at the creature and fired a laser at it. The combat form screeched loudly as it fell off the vehicle onto the floor, dead.

"Thanks, Wally," Eve said to him as she drove the warthog off of the descended part of the ramp and down the middle area of the path between the two raised sections.

"_We're doing well," _Auto said through his com. _"The Dawn's close. We'll make it, as long as the ground doesn't fall out from beneath us,"_

_Please don't worry me, Auto _Eve thought worringly.

A few moments later, the warthog drove out of the rectangular structure onto another large metal ground that led straight to another platform. As they approached it, another pillar of fire shot up from below the metal ground; blowing apart three pieces of the ground just a few metres in front of the warthog. Eve swerved the warthog around the hole, narrowly avoiding having the vehicle fall through it and sending the three to their doom.

The end of the metal floor that led onto the ramp went up at a slight angle. There was also a ten foot wide gap between the platform and the metal ground. As the warthog approached the bent up metal ground, another explosion blew off another piece of the ground, making it spin as it flew into the air and landed almost right next to the warthog, only missing it by a few feet.

Eve accelerated the warthog as it drove up the side of the bent part of the metal ground and into the air. For a few seconds, the vehicle was falling through the air. Then, with a loud crash, it landed on the pathway of the platform. This platform was exactly the same as the last they had been on, only this time the pathways went around the other side of the platform. However, there was no doubt there would be a battle between the Flood and the sentinels raging on this platform as well.

Eve drove the warthog left through the first wall and turned right onto the next pathway. Ahead of them were a group of combat forms patrolling the platform pathway ahead of them, as if completely oblivious to the threat that was destroying Halo. Eve drove the warthog down the pathway towards the end. The combat forms spotted them, but these ones had weapons. One of the combat forms fired several blasts at the warthog. They mostly struck the front and side of the vehicle. Then, one smashed through the windscreen and struck Eve in the shoulder. The shield on her suit lit up. The Arbiter aimed the machine gun turret at the creature and fired at the creature. The barrage tore through the creature, throwing it backwards onto the floor, dead.

The other combat forms fired on the vehicle. One of them struck the Arbiter, causing the shield in his armour to light up. The Elite aimed his turret at two other combat forms, both armed with plasma pistols, and fired at them. Both were hit and fell to the floor, dead. One of the last combat forms that was unarmed tried to run towards the side of the warthog from ahead of the vehicle. Luckily, the Arbiter fired on the creature throwing it sideways onto the pathway floor, dead.

When the warthog reached the end of the pathway, Eve turned it right and drove into the next pathway. This one was crawling with carrier forms and a few combat forms that were unarmed. As she sped the warthog down the pathway, one of the carrier forms ambled into It's path. The warthog hit the creature and threw it sideways to the pathway floor, where it swelled up and exploded, releasing a swarm of four infection forms. The Arbiter turned the turret around and fired on them, killing all four of the creatures.

Eve turned the warthog right again, after hitting another carrier form and throwing the creature over the side of the platform to It's doom far below, and drove down the next pathway. This time, as well as a few Flood combat forms, only one of who was armed with a plasma rifle, there were a few sentinels on this pathway battling the Flood. The combat form fired a blast up at one of the sentinels, which already had a few sparks falling from it. The machine exploded and fell to the pathway floor a burning pile of wreckage. Eve drove through the battle, almost running over an unarmed combat form. The Arbiter fired a barrage of bullets from the machine gun turret at the sentinels and the Flood, destroying two sentinels and killing two combat forms, one of them being the one with the plasma rifle.

When the warthog reached the end of the pathway, Eve turned it right and drove onto the last pathway. As the warthog drove onto the last pathway, another loud noise of something big and made of metal capsizing filled the air once again. It was the platform, only this time they were on it! The platform tilted slightly to the left, nearly making the warthog slide into the wall at the end. Eve turned the warthog left and drove off the side of the platform onto another metal ground. Just as the warthog hit the metal floor, the platform behind the three collapsed and fell, disappearing from sight.

_Another close call _Eve thought as she looked back at what was in front of them.

The metal ground they were on was separated into two large pieces, the second being much larger than the first. Both sections of metal ground were placed between two more cliffs. A single piece of the metal ground connected the two sections of the metal ground together. Near the single piece that connected them, on the first section, the metal ground rose slightly, as did much of the middle of the second section. A few more walking stick-like structures sticking out of the cliff were connected to the metal ground. Far ahead of them, the metal ground came to some kind of end, which the three could see as the square shaped pieces on the end of the ground were bent upwards and broken, revealing their large wires that held the piece of metal together.

Eve drove the warthog across the metal ground towards the single square shaped piece that led onto the second section of metal ground. A few explosions erupted in front of them, tearing the metal ground apart. Eve swerved the warthog around a hole and drove on towards the single metal piece that led onto the second section of metal ground. As the warthog reached it, the first section of the metal ground collapsed at once, falling to the metal ground far below. They had escaped it just in time.

Eve drove the warthog up the second section of metal ground towards the end. As they approached the end, the three saw that there was another large metal ground connected to the cliff that had been to the right of the first section of ground. It led off behind the right cliff, which it was also connected to, and disappeared from sight. As the warthog reached one of the risen areas of the second section, a few explosions erupted across the ground ahead of them, blowing off huge chunks of the metal ground. Eve began to panic when a large explosion blew off three pieces of the metal ground that led to the bent upwards and broken square shaped pieces. If they were all destroyed, then any hope of them getting to the _Dawn_ and off Halo was gone.

"_The charging sequence!" _Auto said in a slightly worried voice. _"It's too much for the Ring to take!"_

Eve drove the warthog over the last remaining square shaped piece that led to the bent upwards and broken square shaped pieces of the metal ground. Behind them, the second section of the metal ground began to break away and fall. Eve drove up the side of one of the broken square shaped pieces and off the second section of metal ground onto the third section. More explosions erupted behind them and one of the walking stick-like structures broke in two and fell to the metal ground far below, taking at least four pieces of the metal ground with it.

"_Halo's ripping itself apart!" _Auto exclaimed.

"I think we realised that now, Auto!" Eve replied.

Far off to the right of the third section of metal ground was another large rectangular shaped structure with an opening in front of another section of metal ground. That was where they needed to get to. The third section of metal ground led to another platform. However, only the top of it was visible to the three over the top of a raised line of square shaped pieces on the end of the metal ground, meaning the warthog was going to have to fall through the down onto the platform. If they missed, then all three of them were dead.

Eve breathed in and drove across the metal section of ground towards the raised pieces at the end. She kept telling herself not to miss. If she did, then all of them would die. No. That was not going to happen, not when they were this close to going home.

The warthog drove up the side of the raised square shaped sections. For a moment, it was falling through the air. The three braced themselves as the pathway came closer to them. Then…

Crash! The warthog landed on the platform. This platform's pathway started to their left. Eve drove the warthog down the pathway and turned left onto the next section of the platform. As they did, the platform tilted again to It's left, almost making the warthog slide off the side of the platform. Scattered along the pathway ahead of the warthog were several spider-like Flood forms. Most of them had mutated into the forms with 'tails' covered with spikes. They fired on the warthog as it came into their view. One of the spikes narrowly missed Wally's head and struck the back of his seat. He gulped and shrunk down slightly, hoping to avoid not getting hit again. The Arbiter fired a barrage at the creatures, hitting and killing one of them. The others sensed the firepower their enemies had and quickly scattered. The warthog drove on down the pathway towards the end, just as it reached it; a monster-like form ran out from behind the turning. Eve skidded the warthog sideways to turn right, running into the creature and throwing it over the side of the platform to It's fate far below.

Eve drove the warthog down the next pathway of the platform. More spider-like forms with spike covered 'tails' and monster-like forms were scattered down this pathway as well. The Arbiter fired on them as the vehicle drove down the pathway towards the end. Some of the spider-like forms fled for cover, whilst others stood their ground and fired their spikes at the warthog. Eve and Wally ducked down in their seats as the spikes flew at them. The Arbiter aimed the turret at them and fired a barrage of bullets at the creatures. One of them screeched loudly as it was hit and fell backwards onto the floor, dead. The remaining creatures decided to flee and scattered. One of them, however, ran into the path of the warthog and was knocked over. It screeched loudly as the warthog hit it and tumbled across the floor of the platform and over the side, disappearing from sight.

"_Charging sequence has passed 30%!" _Auto warned the three through his com. _"Now It's hit 50%!"_

"Auto, will you please be quiet!" Eve growled as she turned the warthog into the next part of the pathway, knocking another monster-like form off of the platform to It's doom far below.

She drove the warthog down the pathway and turned left off the platform, landing on the metal ground that was about ten feet below the platform. Behind them the sound of the platform collapsing filled the air. The Arbiter looked over his shoulder to see the platform tip over and disappear from sight.

Eve drove the warthog across the metal ground towards the opening in the side of the structure. About fifty feet ahead of them, slightly to their left, was another walking stick-like structure that stuck out of the cliff at the left side of the metal ground. As the warthog went to pass it;

BOOM! An explosion blew apart the smaller section of the walking stick-like structure. The remains of it fell sideways onto the metal ground, right into the path of the warthog.

"Look out!" the Arbiter shouted.

Eve swerved the warthog around the remains, narrowly missing an explosion that tore apart the piece of the floor the warthog drove over just as it left it. She accelerated to the vehicle's speed to maximum. The warthog shot towards the opening. More explosions erupted around them. Halo was tearing itself apart. The _Dawn _had to be close by now.

The warthog shot down the middle ramp as it entered the opening. This time, the middle ramp descended and went straight first before rising again back to the metal ground level that was at the entrance to the opening. The two side pathways also descended first but rose back to the metal ground height at the entrance to the opening about half-way down the length of the middle pathway. Like in the last rectangular structure, there were battles raging between the sentinels and the Flood, only these ones were much larger.

As the warthog was about half-way down the middle pathway, a laser hit the floor in front of it. The three looked up and saw the body of a combat form fall to the floor just behind the warthog. What had killed it was a sentinel. The machine aimed It's laser at the vehicle but the Arbiter turned the machine gun turret at the sentinel and fired a few bullets at it. The machine was hit and fell to the floor and exploded. That was one less threat to worry them.

Suddenly, a small explosion tore apart the section of the pathway, ahead of the warthog, that rose back up to It's metal ground level. The remains fell, cutting the pathway in two. Eve slammed her foot on the brake. The warthog screeched loudly as it came to a halt, stopping just six feet from the edge of the broken pathway.

"Damn!" Eve growled. "We'll have to go along one of the other pathways. Arbiter, cover our rear,"

The Elite nodded and turned the turret around to face the way they had just come. Eve reversed the warthog down the pathway, being careful not to reverse left or right or it would fall over the edge of the pathway and they would all die. Whilst Eve was reversing the vehicle, the Arbiter fired on a group of infection forms that were moving across the pathway to attack a downed sentinel, which was lying further up the middle pathway, killing them. The Arbiter then fired on the downed sentinel, hitting it and destroying it.

Finally, after a few tense seconds, the warthog reached the middle of the pathway. Eve drove the vehicle onto the right pathway and drove up it onto the straight level again. As they reached the top of the pathway, a carrier form further up the pathway saw them and ambled towards the vehicle. Eve drove down the pathway, knocking the creature aside and throwing it over the side of the pathway. A small boom echoed through the air about a second later, but they did not need to worry about the infection forms. Eve drove the warthog off of the pathway and onto a large slope floor that led to a bent up end at the bottom. On the other side of the bent up end of the floor was another large metal ground that went around a large rock. Several walking stick-like towers were scattered around on the metal ground far below, each one being at least fifty feet from the edges of the metal ground.

"_70% charged!" _Auto warned. _"I hope we're close to the Dawn," _he added hopefully.

"There!" Wally exclaimed all of a sudden, pointing out of the warthog at a large shape that stuck out from behind the left side of the large rock.

Eve and the Arbiter looked at where he was pointing. Hope filled them at once. It was the _Dawn_! That was it! They were almost there! All they had to do was go around the metal ground on the left side of the rock and they would be safe.

"We're gonna make it!" Eve gasped with happiness in her voice. "We're almost there!"

She drove the warthog up the side of the end of the floor. For a moment, the warthog flew up into the air before falling onto the metal ground with a loud crash. Eve drove the vehicle towards the metal ground that led towards the _Dawn_! This was it! They were almost there! Once they boarded that ship, they could head home. Just another twenty metre-

BOOM! Suddenly, one of the walking stick-like towers, about fifty feet from the edge of the metal ground that went around the left side of the rock, fell forward, emitting a loud droning noise. It-it was heading straight for the metal ground.

"NOOOO!" the three yelled in unison.

Too late. The tower crashed through the metal ground, throwing large pieces of it up into the air before they fell down towards the metal ground far below. Eve slammed her foot on the warthog's brake. The tyres screeched loudly as they brought the vehicle to a halt about five feet from the edge of the hole. The entire left metal ground had been destroyed.

"Shit!" Eve shouted, pounding her fist on the steering wheel. After a second, she calmed down. "Where do we go now?" she asked in a worried tone.

"We will have to go around," Wally told her. "The metal ground should take us straight to your ship,"

"That's only if the ground hasn't been destroyed," Eve muttered under her breath.

She reversed the warthog and rove right across the enormous expanse of metal ground. With the shortcut destroyed, they were going to have to go the long way around the rock to get to the _Dawn_. As they drove across the metal ground, more explosions erupted across the pathway blowing large chunks off.

"Auto how much time do we have left?" Eve asked him, having to shout as another explosion a few metres to their left of them tore apart two pieces of the metal ground.

"_It's at 80% charged." _Auto said. _"We have, at best, less than two minutes," _

_Oh God!_ Eve thought worryingly.

With that amount of time, they had very little chance of getting to the ship, unless they had the luck of God with them.

Eve drove the warthog down a descended part of the metal ground that led down to a straight level of metal ground. Ahead of them, the metal ground continued right. Eve drove the warthog towards the turning.

Suddenly, a group of combat forms ran out from behind the rock across the metal ground. Eve slammed her foot on the brake, stopping about fifty feet from the combat forms. The Arbiter aimed the machine gun turret at the Flood, believing at first that they were trying to attack them. Then, a large droning sound filled the air. Not even a second passed before another large walking stick-like tower fell out from behind the rock towards the metal ground.

CRASH! The tower smashed through the pathway, either crushing the combat forms or making them fall to their deaths. The tower fell below the metal ground and disappeared from sight. Had Eve continued driving ahead, they would have fallen to their deaths along with the combat forms. Alright, now was not the time to say how lucky they were. They had to keep moving.

Eve started the warthog again and drove left down the next part of the metal ground. In front of them, to their sides and behind them, large sections of the metal ground was ripped apart by explosions or broke away and fell to the metal ground far below. Eve swerved the warthog right around a hole caused by an explosion. She drove on over the side of a descending area of metal ground that led to another straight level of metal ground. As they drove past another walking stick-like tower, the building broke away and collapsed sideways to the metal ground far below, again filling he air with the terrible droning sound.

As the warthog drove up the side of a section of metal ground that ascended from the lower straight level to a higher straight level, the three caught sight of several broken and raised pieces of the metal ground at the end ahead of them. As the warthog drove towards the turning that was near the bent up broken pieces of the metal ground, a huge fireball shot up from below, filling the sky with a bright gold colour. The three stared in shock at it. That was what Halo was becoming, and that is what they would be as well.

Eve turned the warthog left and drove down the last part of the metal ground towards the _Dawn_. Ahead of them was a large archway sticking out of the right side of the rock. After that was their ticket out of here. It was the _Dawn_. Hope returned to the three, like light signalling the dawning of a new day. They were close to getting off the Ring. They were almost there.

Eve slammed her foot on the accelerator. The warthog shot forward like a bullet towards the _Dawn_. More explosions erupted behind them, each blowing off a large portion of the metal ground. Other large sections of it collapsed. It was as if Halo itself was trying to stop the three from escaping and was aiming to take them with it as it was destroyed.

"_90%! Firing sequence initiating!" _Auto exclaimed.

"Auto, you're not helping!" Eve replied.

BOOM! An explosion blew apart the metal ground in front of the archway about twenty feet in front of the warthog, leaving a pelican sized hole. Eve swerved the vehicle around the hole, narrowly missing going into it. She drove the warthog through the archway, which collapsed about a second later. The rock smashed through the metal ground and fell with the pieces to the metal ground far below.

The _Dawn _was getting closer and closer! They were almost there. All that separated the warthog and their ticket off the Ring was a slope section of the metal ground that must have been at least seventy feet long. The end of the slope was bent upwards. After that, there was a 200ft gap between the slope and the hanger that led into the _Dawn_.

"_Gun it, Eve! Jump!" _Auto urged her. "_Floor it, right into the hanger!"_

Eve nodded and drove the warthog as maximum speed down the slope towards the end. It's speed was increasing rapidly. Fifty miles an hour! Sixty miles an hour! Seventy! Eighty! It was going too fast. The warthog was even beginning to shake because of the rising speed, but Eve had to make I go fast otherwise they would miss the hanger and fall to their deaths. Though, she stopped at eighty miles an hour, for if she went faster they would miss the hanger and instead end up flying into the side of the ship above it and still end up falling to their deaths.

The slope came closer and closer with every passing second. The three braced themselves for what was coming.

Suddenly, the vehicle drove up the end of the slope and flew into the air. It had been going at the right speed. They were going to land in the hanger! However, the warthog was beginning to tip forward slightly. They would make it, but it would be a hard landing. However, neither of the three noticed a large shape that was attached to the bottom of the _Dawn_, directly below the hanger.

"HANG ON!"

CRASH! The warthog landed front first in the hanger and flew on It's side, but it did not end there. The vehicle skidded across the floor of the hanger to the back. After a few seconds, it was finally brought to a halt by several crates, which were scattered across the floor.

Eve groaned as she lifted her head up from the floor. Apart from an aching head, she was okay. She looked at the back of the warthog. The Arbiter had been thrown from the back of the vehicle onto the floor about three metres behind it, but he was okay as well. Wally had been thrown from his seat to the floor on the other side of the warthog. He too was okay.

Suddenly, the entire hanger began to tilt sideways, making the warthog move several feet before it stopped. However, that was not the end of it. A parked scorpion tank, in a small station on the left side of the hanger, made a loud grinding noise as it rolled away out of the station, directly towards the Arbiter.

"Arbiter! Run!" Eve shouted to him.

The Elite saw the coming threat and immediately took off towards the other side of the hanger. Ahead of him was a small side entrance that led out of the hanger. However, some of the crates had made a pile over the entrance. He was going to have to remove them, and fast. Behind him, the tank came closer and closer to running him over. The Arbiter jumped over a crate and, with all his might, forced his way through the piled up crates, successfully pushing past them, but the ship tilted a little more, making then scorpion tank catch up with him.

CRASH! The front of the scorpion tank crashed into the pile of crates. Eve, who had jumped over the warthog and helped Wally up, looked over with terror at the scorpion tank. Oh no! Was the Arbiter gone? Had the tank crushed him?

Movement among the crates brought a sigh of relief over her lips. A second later, a head popped out through a gap in the crates. The Arbiter. He was okay. Eve nodded at him. The Elite did the same and ran behind the crates. He was going to pilot the ship, though Eve was going to need to help him.

She and Wally ran over to a small holotank that was built within a control panel. She squeezed her shoulder. Auto's data cord rose up from her suit. She took it between her fingers and placed it in a small slot in the side of the control panel. The data cord moved in to the control panel and Auto's seven inch high avatar rose up from the holotank.

"Hang on!" he warned.

Eve and Wally grabbed hold of the control panel as the ship rose into the air and flew away from the Ring that was quickly tearing itself apart. However, as the ship rose some of the crates began to fall out of the hanger. Some of them fell within a few feet of the control panel, but missed Wally and Eve.

The two could not believe it. They had done it. They had fought and destroyed the Covenant, destroyed Flood infested _High Charity _and now they had activated the Halo Ring to wipe out the last of the Flood on the Ark. What was even better, they could go home. All they needed to do now was get to the Portal, which they knew they would, and they would be safe and their mission would be comple-

Suddenly, the ship tilted towards It's left, moving the warthog towards the left side of the hanger, before it rose back up again as it flew into Space, which was noticeable as the sky outside the hanger began to turn dark and a view of the devastated inside of the Halo Ring became visible. Then, the warthog began to slide down the hanger, heading straight for the control panel.

"WALLY, LOOK OUT!"

Eve pushed him behind the control panel, but before she could move herself behind the cover…

WHAM!" the warthog hit her, sending her flying through the air and landing hard on the hanger floor. However, she was tumbling down the hanger, straight towards the entrance.

"EVE! NOOO!" Auto yelled.

He held out his hand as if he could help her, but there was nothing he could do. His friend was falling to her death right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do!

Wally was feeling the same way. It was not fair. He had saved her many times in the past, but why when she had saved him was she going to have to give her life for him? It was not fair!

Eve, who was now about twenty metres from the hanger entrance, raised her fist and smashed it through a weak part of the floor, hoping to grab something that would keep her from falling out of the hanger. Her fingers tore away at the metal as she fell towards the hanger entrance. Finally, her fingers hit something, probably a small pipe, and her hand closed it around it. She jolted as she suddenly halted, just seven metres from the hanger entrance. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe, for the moment.

"Eve, wait there!" Wally shouted to her.

He activated his anti-gravity boots and flew down the hanger towards her. She held out a hand for him. He grabbed it. They smiled as their eyes met.

"Thanks, Wally," Eve said.

"It is okay," he replied. "Now I must get you to safety,"

He went to hover up the hanger back towards the control panel, where an overjoyed Auto was waiting for them, when…

All of a sudden, something big wrapped itself around Eve's leg. She gasped and looked down at her leg to see it was a tentacle. Wally turned to see why he could not move up the hanger. Their eyes followed the tentacle out of the hanger. Just as they did, a large shape rose up from behind the bottom of the hanger. The two gasped.

It was Gravemind.

Wally tried to move with up the hanger with all his strength, but it was no match for Gravemind's strength, and that was just _one_ tentacle!

"**You shall not leave this Ring free! We will all perish in the growing fire!"**

Another tentacle wrapped itself around Eve's other leg and began to pull her towards the hanger entrance. She screamed as her hand was wrenched out of Wally's grip.

"NOOO!" Wally yelled.

He was not going to leave her to be Gravemind's food! Not while he was still alive! If Gravemind wanted her, he had to get rid of him first. Her flew down the hanger and grabbed hold of Eve just as she was about to be pulled out of the hanger. He moved his arm with the bulge away from him and a light blue energy sword shot out of the end of the bulge. Then, with one swish, he cut through the tentacles that were holding Eve's legs. Gravemind roared in pain and reared back slightly, though it was not enough to get him off the ship. Wally would deal with him in a moment, but right now his priority was getting Eve to safety.

He grabbed her hand and hovered with her back up the hanger towards the control panel. However, just as they were about ten feet from the control panel, another of Gravemind's tentacles flew into the hanger, heading straight towards them.

"Guys, watch out!" Auto shouted, pointing behind them.

Too late. The tentacle knocked Wally aside, throwing him against the control panel, and slammed into Eve with the force greater than a million sledgehammers striking her at once.

"NOOOOO!" Auto yelled.

Wally groaned as he rubbed his head. He looked up at Eve and felt terror run through him.

She held her position for a second or two. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. This time, however, instead of the level in the bar flashing red, it made a loud droning sound that quickly got deeper as the bar in the holographic meter began to disappear. If that happened, then it meant one thing:

The person who had the shield was gone.

Then, Eve's eyes seemed to roll backwards and she fell back down the hanger, hitting the floor hard several times, heading straight for Gravemind.

"NOOOO! EVE!" Wally yelled.

He flew after her. He had to save her! HE HAD TO! He was _not_ going to let her go like this! He was going to keep her alive, even if it meant he had to give his life for her.

Eve neared the entrance to the hanger. Gravemind opened his mouth, revealing his huge stone-like teeth that were raring to crunch Eve into hundreds of tiny little pieces. Even though this could be the last thing he saw in life, he would at least get his revenge against his worst enemy for destroying _High Charity_. Eve was getting closer to his mouth. _Twenty feet… fifteen…ten_. It looked like the end for her. After all of this, she had finally fallen victim to Death. He had finally caught her.

Then, just as Eve was about to hit his mouth, Wally grabbed her and shot back up the hanger, narrowly missing Gravemind slam his mouth shut. He tapped the side of her face frantically. She had to be alive! She had to be! She had to be alive! Please!  
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Eve's eyes shot open and she took a deep breath as if she had been scared by something.

"Eve!" Wally exclaimed, embracing her as tears ran down his face.

"W-Wally," Eve whispered as she embraced him as well. "Y-you saved me!"

"I just wanted to make sure you came back to your home world," he replied.

"Wally, look out!" Auto shouted to him.

Wally looked ahead of him. Falling towards him was the scorpion tank. He shot up towards the hanger ceiling, narrowly missing being knocked over as the scorpion tank hit the floor below him and fell down the hanger towards the entrance. Towards Gravemind.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

The tank slammed into Gravemind, striking him with such force that his tentacles came off the _Dawn_. He roared in panic as he fell away from the ship, but it quickly faded away as he disappeared from sight. Wally landed on the control panel and set her down behind it. Before sitting down next to her, he took one last look out through the hanger entrance.

The view was incredible. Hundreds of miles below the _Dawn_ was the Ark, the world that created the Halo Rings themselves. Hovering above the circle in the middle of the Ark was the Halo Ring. Then, a white ball appeared in the middle of the Ring and grew outwards from it, quickly covering the Ring and the Ark.

_**Forward Unto Dawn's**_** bridge**

The Arbiter rushed into the bridge and sat down in the controls. He looked out of the main window in front of him.

Several miles ahead of them was a large white circle that was hovering in Space. It was the Portal. Having been left by Vadumee, who used it to get the _Shadow of Intent_ to Earth, it was now waiting for one more ship. The _Dawn_.

The Arbiter sighed in relief as the Portal came closer.

They had done it. They had completed their mission.

_**Forward Unto Dawn's **_**hanger**

Wally sat down next to Eve behind the control panel as she placed Auto's data cord on her shoulder. It sank into her suit like quicksand.

"_If we don't make it," _Auto said through his com.

"Don't worry," Eve reassured him, smiling and resting her head against the control panel. "We'll make it,"

She took Wally's hand in hers. Wally, who had been looking out at the growing ball of white light, shot his head round and blushed when he saw his hand in Eve's. He looked up at her and she smiled. Wally smiled back and embraced her, knowing that this could their last moments alive.

"Wally," Eve whispered. He looked up at her. A tear ran down her face as she cupped his head in her hands, but the smile never faded from her face. "I love you,"

Wally sniffed as a tear came out of his eye and ran down his cheek.

"I love you too, Eve," he replied.

The two shared a final passionate kiss and embraced tightly as the light from the white ball overtook the ship.


	20. Farewell, my lovely

_**Note: The song 'The Call' is written and rightfully owned by Regina Spektor**_

**Location: Earth**

**Date: April 24th, 2552. **

**Time: 18: 30pm**

Dusk was descending on the remaining areas of East Africa that had not been glassed by the Elites. For most people, it would be the end of another day, but today was a special day for not only East Africa, but for Earth and the surviving colonies. It was the day the year of fighting and death and destruction across two entire solar systems had finally come to an end.

The Shadow of Intent, which was hovering in the sky overhead, had arrived back at Earth earlier today where the surviving Elites and marines left and had now gathered around a barren hillside that overlooked the now shutdown structure that was the gateway to the Ark.

On the top of the hillside was a large crate with a piece of what had been the Forward Unto Dawn's outer armour piece located above the bridge. Engraved across the side of it, in big white letters, were the words In memory of the marines in the defence of Earth and all her colonies. Placed along the side of the piece of the ship were many photographs and pictures comprising of Earth, other colonized worlds but mainly the marines who had fought the Covenant in the long and bitter struggle. Family relatives of those who had not returned from the war had placed flowers, mainly Poppies, among the photographs as a sign of remembrance to those who had fought in the war and had not returned.

Standing at the top of a small ramp that led up to the top of the crate was Hood. Standing in a line on the ground in front of the crate were five marines. Several other marines and Elites, who had come to honour their fallen allies, were scattered about in front of the crate. The scene was very poignant.

Hood took off his cap and held it by his side under his arm.

"For us, the storm has passed," he said. "The war is over. But we shall never forget those who travelled into the howling dark, and did not return home. For their decision required courage beyond measure. Sacrifice to ensure that their fight, our fight, was over."

Hood paused for a moment of silence. At his old age, he had seen hundreds of young men and women, many of them not even half his age, go off to fight the Covenant and ensure mankind's survival. It's rightful place in the Universe, It's right to live as a species. Out of those many hundreds, almost none of them had returned home.

"As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren," Hood continued. "A memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten,"

Hood placed his cap back on his head, looked up at the sky as if looking at Heaven itself and gave a final salute to the fallen marines and civilians who had lost during all of this.

Out of the around 55-63 billion Humans that were alive before the war began, only just under 4.5 billion had survived. Out of the colonies of Earth, all in the Second Sol were destroyed by the Covenant. In this Sol, much of the city planet of Mars, the entire colony on the Moon and the entire colonies on Charon, Pluto, Io, Europa, Carme, Rhea and Titan and the majority of East Africa, mainly comprising of Kenya and Tanzania, had been destroyed. The last surviving Human colonies were Phobos, Mars' northern sector colony Ares, Deimos and Ganymede. Out of the surviving Human population, at least 600 million were still on these colonies, though many would soon have to return to Earth to help rebuild their shattered home world.

"Present arms!" a nearby sergeant ordered.

The line of marines faced sideways and aimed their weapons up at the sky. They fired a shot each.

Silence.

A second line of shots.

Silence.

A third and final line of shots. The 3-volley salute.

The marines and Elites then walked away from the barren hillside, all but Hood. He turned to face the memorial. One of the Elites walked up the ramp to the top and stood next to him.

It was the Arbiter.

Behind him was Eve and, next to her, Wally. Auto's seven inch high avatar was standing on her shoulder. His suit for his avatar was fixed, making him look like a new person, like when Eve had seen him when they first met on the Truth and Reconciliation just weeks ago.

Eve and the Arbiter stood next to the Arbiter and they, along with Auto, looked down at the memorial. It was a very poignant moment. Eve had personally seen many of these faces and planets before the war, before their destruction, before the final battle to end the fighting once and for all.

"I remember how this war started," Hood said. "What your kind did to mine. For that I cannot forgive you, but…" he turned to face the Elite and held out his hand. The Arbiter took it and they shook. "You have my thanks, for standing by us to the end."

Hood let go of the Arbiter's hand and looked down at the memorial.

"It's hard to believe that many of these people will not be with us anymore," he said.

The Arbiter looked up at the Shadow of Intent as it hovered in the sky overhead.

"Were it so easy," he said.

He then looked over his shoulder at Wally, Eve and Auto as Hood walked off the crate towards a few warthogs waiting on a small path that led down to the main road. They had returned home, now he had to return to his.

Before he was to leave, the Arbiter had one more thing to do. He turned and walked over to the two.

"It has been an honour serving with you," he said to them.

Eve and Wally turned to face the Elite.

"You to, Arbiter," Eve said, sounding a little upset.

He shook their hands and looked back at the carrier, waiting for the Elites to board so they could join the remaining Elite fleet in space and make for their home.

"Before I leave, Evelyn," the Arbiter said, looking back at her and Wally. "I want to let you know that the pain I have caused you…I still regret to this day. I thought that I would be led mindlessly to my doom by the prophets. But no, you, your construct and the Oracle. You all saved me from my doom, and for that, you have my gratitude,"

"You have mine as well, Arbiter," Eve said.

She embraced him and he embraced her. Wally smiled. Two enemies had now become friends.

After a moment, the two let go of each other. The two smiled at each other.

"May we one day see each other again," he said.

Eve nodded and the Elite walked back down the ramp towards a phantom that was parked nearby. Eve turned back to face the memorial.

"Well that's it," she said. "It's over."

"Our duty's finally done," Auto added.

Eve looked over at Wally.

"I wonder what life will hold for us," she said to him.

At these words, a guilty look came across Wally's face. Eve noticed it.

"What is it?" she asked him.

Wally looked up at her.

"I-I have something to admit to you Eve," he said. He took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to say to her, but he had to. "I cannot stay on Earth with you,"

Eve gasped. Auto was just as shocked.

"W-why?" Eve asked him. "Why can't you stay? H-have I done something wrong?"

"No, no!" Wally replied. "It is not you, Eve," he said. "It is that…even though your enemy's coalition has collapsed, the Arbiter believes that there may still be a threat to his world by the Brutes. The Elites have Forerunner technology, but they do not know if the Brutes will have as well, so…I must go with them back to their world to help defeat the Brutes."

Eve sighed and looked sadly down at the ground. Auto placed a hand on the side of her face. It hard now that one of her very best, and last few friends, would have to leave to help others get out of this war.

Wally placed a hand on Eve's shoulder.

"But I will promise you something, Eve," he said to her, causing her to look up at him. "I promise you from my very heart that I will return one day. We will see each other again."

Eve smiled and embraced him as tightly as she could. Tears of happiness ran down her cheeks. Wally embraced her, also shedding a few tears. Even though they were parting, and it could be years or maybe even decades before they saw each other again, they would never forget one another. No amount of distance from one planet or even one Sol to another would end their love.

After a few moments, the two let go of each other.

"And…I have this to give to you," Wally said.

He opened the top of his bulge and took out a small object. Eve recognized it instantly. It was her old scrapbook, or her friend Rachael's scrapbook. It was still in perfect condition. The last time she had seen it was when she was on the Axiom and had fallen asleep crying after hearing the terrible news of all her friends being killed on the attack on Reach. He handed it to her. She opened it, coming onto the page with the photo of her and her friends all smiling at the camera when they on Takra.

Eve smiled as she shed more tears. She looked up at Wally.

"Wally," she said. "I-I don't what to say,"

"There is no need," he said. "I found it when I arrived at the ship, about an hour or so before you arrived at the ship. I knew it was yours from the moment I saw that photo. I have been holding onto it since."

Eve closed the book.

"Oh, Wally!" Eve said before embracing him tighter than ever. "Thank you!"

Wally embraced her, not wanting to let go. Behind them, the Sun began to set behind the hills, soon to dawn the first new day for Mankind in this future they had rebuild.

_It started out as a feeling._

_Which then grew into a hope._

_Which then turned into a quiet thought._

_Which then turned into a quiet word._

In the sky, birds began to sing as they made their way to any standing trees. It was a beautiful thing to hear, something which sounded alien to Eve as she had not heard it for a long time.

_And then that word grew louder and louder._

_Til it was a battle cry._

Finally, Wally did the hardest thing. He let go of Eve, but she did not want to let go of him. She did not want him to go, but she was going to have to face the fact that he had to go.

"Eve," Wally said. "I have to go,"

Eve hugged him tighter for a few seconds, as if wanting to leave a loving mark on him, before she finally let go. He looked into her sorrow, but loved filled eyes.

"I love you," he said to her.

Another tear ran down her cheek.

"I love you to," she replied, cupping his face in her hands and leaning towards him.

Their lips locked in a soft, passionate kiss. Eve grabbed his hand with hers and clutched them tighter. She would always be with him, and he would always be with her, no matter what.

_I'll come back._

_When you call me._

_No need to say good bye._

Finally, after a few moments of forgetting about everyone else and finally confessing their love to one another, they let go of each other. Wally smiled tearfully at her.

"I'll miss you, Eve" he said.

_Just because everything's changing._

_Doesn't mean It's never._

_Been this way before._

"I'll miss you two, Wally," she replied.

_All you can do is try to know._

_Who your friends are._

_As you head off to the war._

Wally gave Eve one last kiss and walked down the ramp to the ground. Eve and Auto watched him go, out of their lives for… Probably a very long time.

_Pick a star on the dark horizon._

_And follow the light._

When Wally was about half-way to the phantom, he stopped and looked at her one more time. He shed more tears, as did Eve, but they knew, one day, they would see each other again. He smiled at her, which Eve returned.

_You'll come back._

_When It's over._

_No need to say good bye._

The Arbiter climbed into the phantom through the side entrance. As he did, he looked back at the memorial to see Wally taking one last look back at Eve. They waved each other goodbye before he walked on back towards the phantom. The Arbiter smiled.

"Love has no boundaries," he muttered under his breath.

_Now we're back to the beginning._

_It's just a feeling that now one knows yet._

Wally climbed onto the phantom and stood next to the Arbiter. The other Elites climbed back onto the phantom, ready to depart for their home world.

_But just because I can't feel too._

_Doesn't mean you have to forget._

As the phantom was about to take off, the Arbiter and Wally took one last look at Eve. They stared at each other for about a moment before Eve waved a final salute to honour them and wish them good luck in what could be another battle for survival for them. The Arbiter and Wally did the same, wishing her and Earth good luck in their long road of reconstruction ahead of them.

_Let your memories grow stronger and stronger._

_Til they're before your eyes._

The phantom's side close and the craft flew off into the sky towards the Shadow of Intent. The Arbiter walked off to the cog pit. Wally, however, stayed where he was, looking down through a small holographic screen on the wall that showed a view of the hillside. He could see Eve staring up at the craft as if flew away towards the carrier.

"Goodbye, Eve," he whispered lovingly under his breath. "I will always love you,"

_You'll came back._

_When they call you._

_No need to say good bye._

Eve watched as the phantom became a speck in the sky and disappeared from sight.

"Goodbye, Wally," she whispered lovingly, as if replying to his words. "I'll never forget you,"

_You'll come back._

_When they call you._

**Ten minutes later**

**Shadow of Intent's bridge**

Vadumee was standing in the middle of the bridge, looking at a holographic image of Earth. The Arbiter and Wally walked in through a side entrance. Vadumee heard them and turned to face them.

"Things look different," he said. "Without the prophets' lies clouding my vision."

The Arbiter stopped next to him and looked at the holographic mage of Earth. Wally, who was standing next to the Arbiter, did the same.

"I would like to see our world," Vadumee said. "To know that it is safe,"

"Fear not," the Arbiter reassured his comrade, resting a hand on his shoulder. "For we have made it so,"

He walked down the pathway which led to the commander's chair. Usually it was reserved for Vadumee, but he was willing to let the Arbiter take command on their journey home.

"By your word, Arbiter," Vadumee said, placing his silver armoured arm across his chest, showing Arbiter that he was leading the ship now.

The Arbiter sat down in the chair. The ceiling window appeared above him, revealing the gold, red and purple colours of dusk in the sky.

"Take us home,"

The carrier flew off into the sky, disappearing behind the clouds. Very quickly, the sky outside the ship changed from gold, red and purple to an ever stretching blackness with thousands of small white lights scattered across it. They were in Space now. The rest of the Elite fleet, now numbering just three CCS battle cruisers, was waiting for them.

Wally took one last look at the holographic image of Earth before it disappeared, just like his sorrow for leaving Eve. Even though he missed her, he would never forget her and he would always love her.

_No need to say good bye._

Eve watched as the carrier disappeared into the clouds. She smiled and wiped away a tear from her eye. She would never forget Wally, and she would be overjoyed when she saw him again. Whether it was years or even decades from now or even if it was just once and only for a few seconds, it would fill her with enough happiness to last her a life time.

"I'll miss him," Auto said.

"So will I," Eve replied.

"Hey, Eve," one of the marines shouted to her from the warthog. "C'mon, we're going,"

Eve smiled at Auto. They were both thinking the same thing.

"Let's go home,"

Eve walked down the ramp towards the warthog, ready to finally head home and rest after one long year of fighting.

Behind her, the Sun set behind the hills and the sky began to turn dark and fill with hundreds of tiny white lights. The stars were coming out. Eve stopped as she reached the warthog and looked over her shoulder at them. For a brief second, she could have sworn she saw one of them shine up. She smiled.

One day, she would see them again.

She climbed into the passenger seat on the back of the warthog. The vehicle drove off towards after another two ahead of it.

After over a year of fighting, the war was finally over. They were all going home.


End file.
